RE: Sad news

["Neil, David M" <neildm@id.doe.gov>]

I'll bet the Health Department regulations didn't allow them to handle it any different than unirradiated ground beef; therefore, when it was (X) days old, out it went.  



Health Departments are noted for their hide-bound attitudes.  My wife and I shared a side job doing recipe sampling (real fun!), and had to work closely with the meat, produce, and deli departments of the store.



Also, was it at the same price as unprocessed meat, or higher? Significantly higher? Shoppers are acutely sensitive to price in many cases. Self included, in most cases. (This from a man that had the butcher grind up a roast because his wife wanted ground _chuck_, and no substitutes :-) )



On both these topics, I tend to buy out of what I call the "aged meat" display.



Dave Neil



-----Original Message-----

From: BERNARD L COHEN [mailto:blc+@PITT.EDU]

Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 7:24 AM

To: internet RADSAFE

Subject: Sad news





	The largest supermarket chain in the Pittsburgh area, Giant Eagle,

did a trial run on irradiated ground beef. They even had a very low fat

version, 4% fat. I really enjoyed it, especially because I like my

hamburgers rare and worry about whether the cooking is effective in

killing harmful microorganisms. The taste was excellent

	After a few weeks, they abandoned the experiment as unsuccessful.

It just didn't sell. They said they had to throw out most of their stock.

	A couple of questions in my mind: Why doesn't irradiated beef last

a lot longer than a few weeks? Why did they keep it refrigerated all the

time -- doesn't irradiation make refrigeration unnecessary?



Bernard L. Cohen

Physics Dept.

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Tel: (412)624-9245

Fax: (412)624-9163

e-mail: blc@pitt.edu





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