ABC-TV has settled with Beef Products Inc. three weeks into a South Dakota jury trial determining whether the company was defamed by the network's 2012 news reports that referred to its product as “pink slime.”

“ABC has reached an amicable resolution of its dispute with the makers of 'lean finely textured beef,'” the network said in a statement that brought an end to a trial that began June 5 in Elk Point, South Dakota. Terms of the settlement, which also covered claims against ABC reporter Jim Avila, were not announced.

BPI had filed suit against the American Broadcasting Company seeking $1.9 billion after it lost more than 80 percent of its business, shut down three of its four production plants and let go most of its employees in the wake of a series of news reports that labeled the product as “pink slime,” unsafe to eat, and not even beef or meat.