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Tuesday December 2 1:39 PM EST
FDA Approves Meat Irradiation to Kill Diseases
By Julie Vorman
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators Tuesday approved the use of irradiation to kill food-borne diseases in beef, lamb and pork amid worries by consumer groups that the procedure may be oversold as a solution to growing outbreaks of food contamination.
After a record U.S. recall of 25 million pounds of tainted hamburger in August, the meat and food packaging industries lobbied hard for Food and Drug Administration approval of tiny doses of gamma rays or X-rays to kill bacteria and parasites in beef.
Irradiation, first used by NASA to sterilize food for astronauts, is widely used to control insects and disease in fruits, vegetables, grains and spices. The FDA approved its use with poultry seven years ago, but few chicken processors have invested in irradiation technology.
"Irradiation of meat could prove to be another important tool to protect consumers from food-borne disease," said Michael Friedman, deputy FDA commissioner. "The process has been shown to be safe and to significantly reduce bacterial contamination."
After three years of study, the FDA concluded that irradiation does not make meat radioactive, nor does it noticeably change taste, texture or appearance.
Consumers are not likely to find packages of irradiated meat at their grocery stores any time soon, said Dr. George Pauli, an FDA researcher who headed the study of irradiation.
The U.S. Agriculture Department, which has authority over meat inspections, must first modify its regulations over the next few months to include irradiation, he said. "We've given the meat industry the clearance and confidence to make the investment in irradiation equipment if they want," Pauli said.
Consumer groups contend that scientists need to find better ways to treat food safety problems on the farm.
"Irradiation is definitely being oversold as a solution to food safety problems by the food industry," said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
"It isn't the right approach to take a filthy product and irradiate it to make it sterile. We need to make sure that the filth is removed earlier in the process," DeWaal said.
Although the FDA review did not include costs of the technology, experts have estimated irradiation could cost consumers about five cents per pound of meat. That would add about $2 per person to grocery store bills based on average per-capita consumption of about 33 pounds annually.
Food industry groups welcomed the FDA action.
"Food irradiation is a safe, simple and relatively inexpensive process which has been available since the 1950s," said John Cady of the National Food Processors Association.
Steam pasteurization of beef, pulsed light beamed onto meat and a sterilizing rinse for poultry are other procedures that have been approved by regulators, but all kill only bacteria and germs on the surface of the animal. Irradiation penetrates the meat to kill internal parasites, and can be used after meat is packaged for shipment to grocery stores.
Some scientists are also investigating potential inoculations of farm animals that could prevent them from carrying E. coli that occurs normally in the intestinal tract.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, state epidemiologist in Minnesota, said irradiation was a big step forward but that an "early warning system" was still needed to protect the food supply.
"We've seen more progress and more change in the last year and a half to two years than we've probably seen in the previous decade," Osterholm said at a briefing sponsored by the American Medical Association in New York.
The public's growing nervousness about outbreaks of E. coli, salmonella, cyclospora and other food-borne diseases prompted the Clinton administration to launch a food safety initiative that includes legislation to give USDA more authority over meat recalls, adding inspectors to check domestic and imported produce and rolling out mandatory safety programs at meat, poultry and seafood processing plants.
More than 35 countries use irradiation, and the procedure was approved earlier this year by the World Health Organization.
The agency action came after Isomedix Inc, a New Jersey maker of medical equipment, petitioned the agency in 1994 to approve irradiation of red meat. The company was acquired by Steris Corp for $142 million in September. |
