New York Times - Red Meat Irradiation Rules

[Muckerheide <muckerheide@mediaone.net>]

February 12, 1999


Government Expected to Clear Way for Irradiation Treatment of Red Meat

By MARIAN BURROS

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Agriculture is expected to announce on
Friday the approval of
irradiation for red meats to control bacteria like salmonella and
potentially deadly strains of E coli. 

The department would require that irradiated meat be labeled, with a
symbol and statement indicating that the product had been treated. 

Whether the public will accept irradiated meat is unclear, since there
has been so much resistance by consumers to the technology in the past.
Only a small percentage of the American food supply is irradiated, even
though it is permitted for fruits, vegetables, pork, poultry and spices. 

But outbreaks of food poisoning in the past few years have focused
attention on irradiation to combat the spread of harmful bacteria, like
listeria. Listeria, which has been responsible for the recall of
millions of pounds of prepared meats in the past several months, might
have been eradicated through irradiation. It is particularly dangerous
to pregnant women because it can cause miscarriages and stillbirths. 

The meat industry has long sought approval of irradiation for ground
beef, which is the source of the greatest contamination in beef
products. But IBP Inc., the largest supplier of beef in the United
States, said the Agriculture Department's approval would not immediately
prompt it to begin irradiating meat.

"If we have some customers who would like to test market it," said Gary
Mickelson, a spokesman for the Nebraska company, "we may do it but it
will depend on consumer demand." 

Irradiated meat is expected to cost about 5 cents more a pound,
officials said. But even if consumers are willing to pay the additional
money and overcome their suspicions about the treatment process, one
problem remains -- the taste and smell of the food, especially ground
beef patties that are the most likely form of beef to be irradiated. 

Unless the packaging is just right, the level of irradiation exact, the
fat in the beef can cause unappealing odors and taste. The color of the
raw irradiated beef is also darker than fresh beef. 

The Food and Drug Administration approved irradiation of red meat in
December 1997, but the process could not be used until the Agriculture
Department established rules. Irradiation, which has been available for
almost 50 years, does not make food radioactive. The food is passed
through a chamber containing radioactive cobalt-60, electron beams or
X-rays that bombard the food and kill bacteria, insects and mold. 

Surveys have shown that few people know what food irradiation is.
"People think it will make them glow in the dark," said Carol Tucker
Foreman, a former Agriculture Department official and a partner in
Foreman and Heidepriem, a Washington public policy consulting firm. Ms.
Foreman says irradiated food itself is not unsafe, but she and some
consumer groups say there are other concerns. 

"Irradiation is not a panacea," Ms. Foreman said. "You want people to
have good sanitary conditions and avoid contamination to begin with, and
irradiation tempts people to have less than pristine sanitary
conditions." Irradiated contamination will not make you sick, she said,
but it is still contamination. 

And, she said, "Irradiation kills harmless as well as disease producing
bacteria, but it does not prevent further contamination. There is some
reason to believe that disease-causing bacteria may multiply more
rapidly after irradiation because there is no harmless bacteria to
compete with it." 

 The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based
consumer group, says safety issues are worrisome. "Irradiation raises
concerns about worker safety and environmental safety as they transport
the nuclear fuels around the country," said Caroline Smith DeWaal,
director of food safety for the center. Elaborate safety measures are
supposed to be in place to prevent exposure when irradiation equipment
is in use. 

Installation of equipment to treat the beef is expected to cost
individual companies about $10 million. Ms. DeWaal said that "companies
are looking for less expensive technologies that don't have the same
consumer acceptance problems." 

Mark Klein, a spokesman for Excel Corp., the nation's second largest
supplier of beef and the company that developed steam pasteurization, a
method to rid beef of harmful bacteria, said the corporation would
test-market irradiated beef before it made plans to spend any money on
the technology. 

"Our plan would be to let consumers know and then make a decision,"
Klein said. "This should not be used as a replacement for any other food
safety program or technology." With IBP, Excel processes more than half
the beef sold in the United States. 

 But health officials, especially those who have to deal with outbreaks
related to harmful bacteria like E coli 0157:H7, see irradiation as the
only solution to the increasing levels of harmful bacteria in food. Dr.
Michael Osterholm, the state epidemiologist at the Minnesota Health
Department, is a champion of irradiation. "I'm extremely pleased it's
there," he said, "but I have not heard industry screaming for it. The
next hurdle is having it used." 

Although the Agriculture Department will make an announcement about its
approval on Friday, its proposed rules are to be published in the
Federal Register within 10 days and will be followed by a 60-day comment
period. The irradiation of beef could begin as early as the end of
April. 

But its lasting efficacy is being debated. Ms. Foreman, who says there
is a place for irradiated foods in nursing homes and hospitals, warns
that "in the long run, years out, bacteria are likely to develop
resistance to irradiation," just as they have to one antibiotic after
another.
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