An employee of Beef Products Inc. who lost his job as a result of the “pink slime” controversy is suing ABC News, anchor Diane Sawyer, chef Jamie Oliver and others, saying that their use of the phrase “pink slime” cost him his job.  Bruce Smith was one of the 750 people laid off by BPI when the company shut down three of its four processing plants that made lean finely textured beef, dubbed “pink slime” by critics. He is seeking $70,000 in damages, reports the Los Angeles Times.

“My former employer was maliciously and needlessly maligned and accused of producing a food product that did not exist -- a product derisively, repeatedly, and relentlessly called 'pink slime' by traditional TV broadcast and print media, in concert with social internet media critics, bloggers, politicians, and celebrity entertainers,” Smith said in a statement.

Smith was Beef Products’s senior counsel and director of environmental health and safety when he was let go in May after more than four years with the company, he said. The South Dakota resident blamed “irrational hype and hysteria” for the “extreme hardship” he and his co-workers suffered.

Source: Los Angeles Times