 On March 25 , 2012 , BPI announced it would suspend operations at three of its four plants , being in " crisis planning " . The three plants produced a total of about 900 @,@ 000 pounds of the product per day . BPI said it lost contracts with 72 customers , many over the course of one weekend , and production decreased from 5 million pounds of LFTB per week to below one million pounds a week at the nadir ( lowest point of production ) . Effective May 25 , 2012 BPI closed three of its four plants , including one in Garden City , Kansas , lost more than $ 400 million in sales , and laid off 700 workers . Production increased to less than 2 million pounds in 2013 . Cargill also significantly cut production of finely textured beef and in April 2012 " warned [ that ] the public 's resistance to the filler could lead to higher hamburger prices this barbecue season " . About 80 percent of sales of the product evaporated " overnight " in 2012 , per the president of Cargill Beef . Cargill stopped production in Vernon , California and laid off about 50 workers as well as slowing production at other plants including a beef @-@ processing plant in Plainview , Texas , where about 2 @,@ 000 people were laid off . 
