Text 4868, 87 rader
Skriven 2007-08-09 17:30:44 av Alan Hess
Ärende: CO-treated meat
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Our government doesn't look out for our best interests again:

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www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.meat09aug09,0,4349710.story
baltimoresun.com
Keeping meat red and customers in the dark

By Jacqueline Ostfeld

August 9, 2007

In the shadow of the Chinese import scare, U.S. consumers have won a victory.
The retail giant Safeway, responding to pressure by public interest advocates
and members of Congress, recently pulled carbon monoxide-treated meat from its
shelves.

Carbon monoxide in meat? Unbelievably, in 2004, the Food and Drug
Administration and Department of Agriculture gave their blessing to a number of
large meat packers (including Tyson, Hormel and Cargill Foods) to inject CO in
their case-ready meat products. It is unlikely that CO injections themselves
present a poison risk. But they pose a public-health and consumer-fraud hazard.

Treating packaged meat with CO extends its shelf life by keeping it red long
after it begins to spoil. In fact, gassed meat holds its color for upward of
one year, whereas CO-free packaged meat typically starts to turn after just 10
to 12 days on the shelf. It's easy to see why the meat industry likes CO:
Gassed meat could save retailers $1 billion annually in lost sales resulting
from that finicky consumer aversion to browning meat.

Why would the government permit this practice? After all, the Federal Food,
Drug and Cosmetic Act provides that a "food shall be deemed to be adulterated
... if damage or inferiority has been concealed in any manner; or if any
substance has been added thereto or mixed or packed therewith so as to ... make
it appear better or of greater value than it is." This bar on concealing
adulteration is what drove the Agriculture Department to ban the use of paprika
in fresh meat products in 1969. CO injections are no different: Their sole
purpose is to conceal inferiority and damage.

According to a poll conducted by the Consumer Federation of America, the
majority of consumers directly equate color with the freshness of their meat.
That same poll found that more than three-quarters of U.S. consumers believe
the use of CO in meat is deceptive, and more than two-thirds think gassed meat
should be labeled. A leading meat scientist has observed that consumers "rate
color as the most important trait in selecting fresh meat."

The proper way to keep meat red is by temperature control. Meat should be kept
at or below the freezing point during distribution, and under 40 degrees
Fahrenheit upon arrival at a retail store. When temperatures exceed 40, meat
enters the "danger zone." It's not uncommon for temperatures in the display
case at the grocery store to be as high as 50, which could cause premature
spoilage and provide a nurturing environment for the growth of pathogenic
bacteria. Because of color-preserving CO injections, such temperature-control
failures are not apparent to the consumer.

That's why the Agriculture Department originally sent a letter to the FDA
voicing concerns that CO-treated meat might mask spoilage and delude consumers.
But two months later, the agency reversed its position. The USDA's final
decision to endorse this deceptive and hazardous marketing practice was the
result of closed-door meetings with industry officials - meetings that excluded
public participation. The public has no way of knowing right now why the USDA
turned tail. Food safety watchdogs are seeking agency records through the
Freedom of Information Act to shine a light on the decision-making process that
sanctioned CO-treated meat.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, has introduced a bill to ban CO in
meat packaging. She has also called on the FDA to consider consumer behavior
and conduct an independent investigation into the safety of CO. Right now, the
FDA is relying solely on limited industry data in giving CO injections a clean
bill of health. In addition, Reps. Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan, and
Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, have introduced a bill that would
force the industry to label CO-treated meat, should the ban fail.

Before Safeway's decision to bar CO-gassed meat, a number of large retailers
had already acknowledged the public health risks and consumer distaste for
faux-fresh meat. Whole Foods, Wegmans, Publix, Super- fresh, Stop & Shop,
Kroger, Pathmark and a handful of other grocers have refused to carry gassed
meat. Good for them. But many distributors continue to carry CO-treated meat,
and until the government says they can't, there's no way to eyeball the
freshness of shelved meat. And that has consumers still seeing red.

Jacqueline Ostfeld is food and drug safety officer at the Government
Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection organization. Her e-mail is
jacquelineo@whistleblower.org.

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