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Microcap & Penny Stocks : THE OZONE COMPANY! (OZON) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeffrey L. Henken who wrote (2549)	2/1/1998 9:57:00 PM
From: DEZERT	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4356

Hi all, here's some info from restaurantville. Backs up Jeff's irradiation "cost concern" argument and points to embrace of new technologies. I'm sure OZONe is on their list even though it's not mentioned, maybe they meant Northeast!!<g> Restaurant Business-January 1, 1998 by Ben Van Houten Food Plight Technology and tighter restrictions loom on the food safety horizon. CAN THIS MEAT KILL YOU? asks the cover line of a weekly news magazine over a bloody and sinister-looking blowup of ground beef. Is it any wonder that food safety has become one of those subjects that makes restauranteurs hide under the table? It's no news that the public remains fearful and suspicious, but thanks to all the hysteria surrounding the Hudson Foods recall last year, suppliers will share some of the heat with restaurants this year. The pressure continues to have restrictions tightened at the warehouse level: President Clinton's recent food safety initiative, for one, calls for better seafood inspection practices. And beginning this month, beef and poultry producers will have to meet new, stricter USDA food safety requirements, including tougher product sampling standards. Also worth watching are two recently introduced bills that should face much debate: the first a proposal from USDA secretary Dan Glickman that would give the agency more power to recall products and impose fines. The second bill seeks to create a single food regulatory agency including both FDA and the USDA, among others. "I don't see that getting very far," says Steve Grover, technical services director for the NRA (National Restaurant Association). "But the Glickman proposal might actually have a chance this year." It's also possible that technology might help restore some of the public faith lost through events like the Hudson scare. Now the FDA has approved the use of irradiation for red meat, this process will generate many decisions for operators this year, not the least of which is whether irradiation is worth the cost. "Are they willing to pay for it? I don't know, but the facts are that it's been shown to be effective," says NRA's Grover. "Any new technology should be welcome with open arms." Some doubt, however, that irradiation will change the face of food safety that dramatically, at least in the short term. "It's going to have very little impact," says NRA VP of federal relations Lee Culpepper. "I haven't heard any chains tell me they're planning on implementing it yet. It's an educational issue." Perhaps with that view in mind, the FDA is set to launch a pilot food safety program this spring designed to encourage more operators to comply with the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points inspection program. HACCP's proponents-which include heavyweights like Burger King and Darden-envision that the measures will gain more widespread acceptance in the coming year as public concern continues. And, though the near future is probably too soon to expect concrete results, many operators will be waiting for other technological developments such as a new food sterilization process being tested in the Northwest, and a new USDA device that eliminates bacteria on raw meat by using a special steam treatment.