Today at 3pm, CDT, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Iowa Governor Terry Branstad will hold a joint press conference to clarify facts surrounding Beef Products Inc.’s lean finely textured beef. We sure need some facts to get out into the consuming public on this. You can watch it live in the player window below. The press conference will be held in the Governor’s Large Conference Room, State Capitol, Des Moines, IA

Post Update: In case you missed the press conference you can listen to it here. I edited out the blips in the live stream feed. Total length is about 14.5 minutes.

Here are some notes from the press conference: Both Gov. Branstad and Sec. Vilsack strongly affirmed the safety of lean finely textured beef. Sec. Vilsack said,”Let me reiterate what we have said literally hundreds of times. This product is safe. No question about it.” He compared the inaccurate term “pink slime” to calling H1N1 “swine flu.” Branstad said their responsibility is to “correct smear campaign” re: lean finely textured beef with correct information. He said that Midwest governors will be taking media on tour of meat plants tomorrow where they will eat some LFTB! He called media coverage of this story “poisonous.” Sec. Vilsack applauds efforts like the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance to communicate better information about food production to consuming public. Gov. Branstad said he talked with representatives of Hy-Vee who have changed their decision not to carry LFTB products and will be giving their customers the choice to purchase the product.