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AP News Article: Co. Sells Electronic Treated Beef
Colleagues -
Another article ... note the last paragraph about "distinguishing between electronic pasteurization and irradiation". The only differences that I'm aware of: (a) this process uses electrons instead of photons, and (b) you can turn off the source.
Jim Hardeman
Jim_Hardeman@mail.dnr.state.ga.us
====================
Co. Sells Electronic Treated Beef
Updated 9:24 PM ET May 16, 2000
By GREGG AAMOT, Associated Press Writer
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) - A Minnesota company said Tuesday it is the first in the nation to begin selling electronically pasteurized beef, which uses electricity to kill bacteria.
Huisken Meats, based in Chandler in the southwestern part of the state, is selling the pasteurized frozen beef patties in some grocery stores in the Twin Cities.
Health officials compared the development of electronic pasteurization to the introduction of heat-pasteurized milk. The process kills E. coli, listeria and other bacteria and parasites.
Minnesota Health Department Commissioner Jan Malcolm and former state epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, now a consultant specializing in infectious disease, said the process is safe, biting into pasteurized hamburgers at a news conference Tuesday to illustrate their confidence.
They said electronic pasteurization will save lives and reduce health-care costs. Each year in the United States, 76 million people get sick and 5,000 die because of food-borne bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Electronic pasteurization takes a few seconds and is done after the ground beef is prepared and packaged. A San Diego-based company called SureBeam is providing the electronic pasteurization at a facility in Sioux City, Iowa.
The FDA approved electronic pasteurization in 1997. In December, the Department of Agriculture established guidelines for the process, paving the way for Huisken and SureBeam to collaborate on the beef patties.
Officials made a point of distinguishing between electronic pasteurization and irradiation, a process in which low levels of radiation are used to kill bacteria and parasites. Critics say not enough is known about its safety.
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