Tyson poultry to irradiate some foods to neutralize bacteria

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

Tyson poultry to irradiate some foods to neutralize bacteria 
By CHUCK BARTELS 

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (September 21, 1999 7:48 a.m. EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com) - The nation's biggest poultry producer plans
to test-market irradiated foods to consumers, joining a move to embrace
a decades-old food safety process that astronauts have used but that has
never been widely accepted on Earth. 

Tyson Foods Inc. said Monday it believes there is a market for
irradiated food. It will sterilize its poultry from potentially harmful
bacteria with a process that uses electron beams, rather than the other
form or irradiation that relies on low-level doses of gamma rays.

"We have come to the conclusion in our research and evaluation of
consumer acceptance that now is the time to take this step," said Tyson
spokesman Archie Schaffer III from the company's Springdale, Ark.
headquarters. 

Tyson has contracted with San Diego-based Titan Corp., which will
irradiate Tyson products at a facility in Sioux City, Iowa, set to open
next month. Other food processors are to have meat irradiated at the
facility as well, officials from both companies said. Tyson will be the
first poultry company involved. 

Meatpacker giants IBP Inc. and Excel Corp. disclosed plans earlier this
year to treat meat irradiated by Titan. 

Tyson and Titan are to spend the next several months developing
packaging and labeling and testing products. Tyson said a market test
could come early next year. 

Only a portion of Tyson products will be irradiated and they will be
clearly labeled as such. Schaffer said the proportion and types of
products have not been determined. 

In a statement, Tyson said it does not regard irradiation as a panacea
for eliminating harmful bacteria from food and that consumers using its
irradiated products will still have to handle the meat safely and make
sure it is fully cooked. 

Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for the Center for
Science in the Public Interest, said the group does not have any
strenuous objection to the electron-beam method. 

"For consumers, irradiated foods are likely to contain many fewer
bacteria and, potentially, no bacteria. It is safer from a
microbiological standpoint than foods that have not been irradiated,"
DeWaal said. 

DeWaal said irradiation can result in some vitamin content being reduced
but said that is of slim concern, assuming only a tiny portion of a
person's diet is irradiated. 

The poultry industry would do better to make plants cleaner, rather than
relying on irradiation to sanitize food on the back end of production,
she said. Also, DeWaal said consumers want to know whether food has been
irradiated. 

The government requires irradiated products be labeled. Tyson said it
prefers informational labels rather than warning labels. 

Irradiation has been used for years on limited amounts of produce,
spices, poultry and other foods. But only a few small retailers have
offered irradiated products. 

On a space mission last year, John Glenn and his fellow astronauts ate
irradiated food.

-- 
==================================================
Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee, Inc.
136 South Illinois Avenue, Suite 208
Oak Ridge, Tennessee  37830
Phone (423) 483-1333; Fax (423) 482-6572; E-mail loc@icx.net
VISIT OUR UPDATED WEB SITE:  http://www.local-oversight.org
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