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Ozone Is Answer To E. Coli Meat Problems, Says Co. By Daniel Rosenberg
CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--If ozone can kill micro-organisms on your shirt, it'll also work on your hamburger.
That's the way Bill Stoddard sees it. Stoddard, president and CEO of CYCLOPSS Corp., in Salt Lake City, spent eight years and $15 million developing ozone as a cleaning agent for laundries and hospitals, and now he thinks he has the answer to the E. Coli infections plaguing the U.S. red meat industry.
Reading about the recall of 25 million pounds of beef last summer
after an E. Coli outbreak, Stoddard began developing technology that would use ozone to kill the pesky bacteria in meat. Now he's almost ready to send a proposal to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and he's working with a 'major' U.S. beef- packing company to put together a pilot program.
Stoddard admitted ozone may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks about food safety. But looking ahead a few years, he's certain his technology will be at the forefront of the meat industry's battle against contaminants.
'I'd be very surprised if ozone doesn't replace any other type of
microbacterial control in poultry and beef,' Stoddard said in a
telephone interview this week. 'It's lower cost and higher efficiency. The amount of interest shown by the food processing world is overwhelming.
'When you say 'ozone', you automatically get a negative connotation. The public will have to learn.'
This year's beef recalls have led to widespread calls for a
technology to get rid of E. Coli, a bacteria that makes its home in ground beef and causes gastrointestinal distress and even death.
(MORE) DOW JONES COMMODITIES SERVICE 02-12-97
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NEWS SUBJECT: Commodities; Agriculture; Cattle/Beef/Diary (CMD AGR
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REGION: United States; North America (US NME)
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REPEAT: Ozone/E. Coli -2: Alternative To Irradiation Method
Another possible way of eradicating bacteria from meat, with some
supporters, is irradiation. 'Irradiation is a process whose time is long overdue in the food industry,' said the Chicago Sun Times in a recent editorial.
But irradiation also has its naysayers, including some scientists who question the technology's safety.
Dr. Samuel Epstein M.D., professor of environmental and occupational medicine at the University of Illinois-Chicago, is a critic.
'Irradiation is jumping from the frying pan into the fire, with a
wide range of hazards,' Epstein said. 'There are serious questions that have never been solved on its carcinogenicity.'
According to Stoddard of CYCLOPSS Corp., ozonisation offers a safe
solution to the E. Coli problem, and its benefits will outweigh its costs in the long run. The Food and Drug Administration issued a 'generally regarded as safe' designation last summer for ozone as a food cleanser, used indirectly. The FDA is being petitioned to approve the direct use of irradiation on meat, and its decision is expected soon.
But as with irradiation, some scientists question ozone's safety,
although their concerns center more on the application process than any effect on consumers' health.
Ozone forms naturally when a flash of lightning divides oxygen
molecules. Some of the single atoms left over attach themselves to whole oxygen molecules, giving them an extra atom, and turning oxygen into ozone. Stoddard calls ozone 'the most aggressive anti-microbial agent we know of.'
Stoddard creates ozone in what he calls a 'synthetic lightning
machine,' passing oxygen through a device that fires electrical energy at it and divides the molecules.
(MORE) DOW JONES COMMODITIES SERVICE 02-12-97
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NEWS SUBJECT: Commodities; Agriculture; Cattle/Beef/Diary (CMD AGR
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REPEAT: Ozone/E. Coli -4: Concerns About Application Risks
Dr. Epstein, of UIC, agreed that the safety of applying ozone could
be an issue.
'Ozone is a highly toxic material and could pose an occupational
problem,' Epstein said. 'It can cause respiratory tract infections.' Stoddard, of CYCLOPSS, countered that ozone levels would stay under OHSA limits, and that controls would shut down the system if a leak developed.
Scientists don't think meat treated with ozone would prove harmful to consumers. And since ozone eventually turns back into oxygen, it would pose few environmental hazards after use. Many water treatment plants in the U.S. and other countries already use ozone, as do many bottled water companies.
A USDA spokeswoman, Jacque Knight, said 'if companies can show us
they're producing a safer product, how they do it is up to them, as long as they meet our standards.'
Stoddard of CYCLOPSS declined to reveal which U.S. meat company he's teaming with for the pilot project. Sources said the company is one of the 'big three' U.S. beef packing firms. The biggest of those, IBP Inc., of Dakota City, Nebraska, isn't working with CYCLOPSS.
'Our scientists have evaluated the use of ozone several times over
the last years and haven't found it effective on meat products,' IBP spokesman Gary Mickelson said.
If UIC's Epstein had his way, neither ozone nor irradiation would be the beef industry's focus.
'The major thrust should be on processing and handling the animals
properly at the slaughterhouse,' Epstein said. 'By emphasizing cleaning after the slaughter, we're saying, 'Carry on with your horrid, slipshod practices and we'll clean up after you with ozone'. ' Epstein proposed checking the manure of animals for E. Coli before they're brought to slaughter plants.
Stoddard of CYCLOPSS thinks once government agencies and meat packers see how effective ozone is, they'll embrace it. 'It's important that this technology gets a fair hearing,' he said.
-By Daniel Rosenberg 1-312-750-4118;
dan.Rosenberg@news.wsj.com |
