By Christopher Doering Tue Nov 13, 5:57 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two of the biggest U.S. meat processors on Tuesday defended a packaging technique designed to keep meat looking fresh at grocery stores even as U.S. lawmakers criticized it as unsafe and misleading.

Packers use carbon monoxide to stabilize the color of meat, but some Democrats said the process misleads consumers by making the products look safer than they really are, and puts the public at risk of eating spoiled meat.

Rep. Bart Stupak, Michigan Democrat and chairman of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, called the practice deceptive and "a potential health threat," and accused U.S. regulators of "turning a blind eye" toward health dangers.

Earlier this year, Stupak launched a probe into the practice and has proposed the use of a safety notice on meat and fish products treated with carbon monoxide.

Since then, food retailers Giant, Safeway Inc and Tyson Foods Inc have stopped the practice.

On Tuesday, discount retailer Target Corp asked USDA for approval to add a warning to the label of meat that has been treated with carbon monoxide sold in its stores.

At the hearing, top executives with Hormel Foods Corp and Cargill Inc told lawmakers they supported a product label encouraging consumers to depend on a "use by" or "freeze by" date rather than color to determine the safety of their meat or fish.

"Consumers are not eating bad product and are not being deceived by this technology," said Hormel Chief Executive Jeffrey Ettinger.

Some consumer groups have petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval of sealed packaging that uses a higher portion of carbon monoxide -- 0.4 percent -- than exists in air.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, defended the practice on grounds that it reduces the need for human handling and limits the chance of adding bacteria to the meat.

"There is no need for the federal government to implement overzealous regulations that would likely take a step backward and away from safe and efficient meat packaging," Blackburn said.

Officials at the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Agriculture Department said they stand by the safety of the carbon monoxide practice and would revisit the process if new data becomes available.

"This is not a priority for the agency with regard to public health," said Daniel Engeljohn, a deputy assistant administrator with USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service. The FSIS requires use-by/sell-by dates on meats sold in packages containing carbon monoxide.

The hearing on Tuesday comes as the food industry has been hit hard by several recent recalls.

Among them, Cargill earlier this month recalled more than 1 million pounds of ground beef because of possible E. coli. contamination. It was the second meat recall by the Minneapolis-based company in about a month.

Consumer groups told lawmakers the use of carbon monoxide makes it difficult for shoppers to gauge product safety.

"We're outraged the FDA put the economic interest of the industry before the health and safety of consumers," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Food and Water Watch. "At worst (it's) dangerous, at best it's a consumer rip-off."

The FDA regulates about 80 percent of the U.S. food supply, mostly fruits and vegetables, and the USDA is responsible for the rest, including meat, poultry and eggs.

(Editing by Christian Wiessner)

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"Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, defended the practice on grounds that it reduces the need for human handling and limits the chance of adding bacteria to the meat."

excuse me?! what the heck is she talking about?!   

from what i got during one of the hearings while my head was exploding, they only use it on pink/red meats. salmon gets it also.

i'm sure they have something else they use on white meats and we'll find that out after there's a major problem with it. or maybe the melamine plastics they eat keep their meat looking fresh?!   

Is this the alternative to washing expired meat off and rewrapping it and stamping on a new expiration date?

Wait until you read this article on the same subject published in the Seattle Times.  Two year old meat still looks red and fresh.  Warning, the last sentence may raise your blood pressure. 


E-mail surfaces about safety of meat treatment

By Rick Weiss

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The Agriculture Department in 2004 gave a green light to the use of carbon monoxide to keep older cuts of meat looking red and fresh, even though scientists at the two companies promoting the technology had questioned the validity of their own safety tests, congressional investigators revealed Tuesday.

The tests, by Cargill and Hormel Foods, both of Minnesota, were part of a joint effort to persuade federal regulators to allow use of the gas without going through a public-approval process. Inexplicably, however, the tests found that microbial counts on meat that had been left under-refrigerated went down over time instead of up as expected, even as other indicators of spoilage increased, suggesting the possibility of an error.

"Believe me, we are also puzzled by the data," a Hormel employee wrote in a May 2004 e-mail, marked CONFIDENTIAL, to a colleague at Cargill. "Please let me know if you see any other funny data," he wrote later. "Quite honestly, this test seemed to raise more questions than what it answered."

Agriculture Department scientists did not question the data and relied upon them to reverse the agency's earlier decision to oppose the technology, said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations.

In July 2004, acting on the USDA's recommendation, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the technology a final OK.

Asked if the e-mails raise concerns about the approval, the Agriculture Department's lead reviewer, Robert Post, said: "Based on this information, I think this leads to some questions, yes."

In another surprise at Tuesday's hearing, the chief executives of Cargill and Hormel said for the first time that their companies were willing to put labels on the treated meats that would say, "Color is not an accurate indicator of freshness."

That concession was the latest in a string of victories for those who oppose use of the gas on meat, claiming consumers are being deceived into thinking meat is fresher than it is. Packages of ground beef more than two years old were on display at the hearing, looking red and fresh.

Giant Food, Stop & Shop and Safeway stores recently said they would no longer sell the gassed meats. Tyson Foods, the nation's largest processor of meat and poultry, has said it will stop using the technology. On Friday, Target stores asked the Agriculture Department for permission to use labels indicating that the gas was used on the meat.

Industry officials, who said they lose $1 billion in sales each year from having to toss out or discount meat that is edible but does not look red and appetizing, defended the gas, which locks in the red indefinitely.

"We're very comfortable with the science surrounding this packaging," said Gregory Page, Cargill's chief executive, noting the company has received just 48 complaints of "off" meat of 23 million packages sold, every one of which has the company's toll-free number.

Stupak responded by asking Hormel's chief executive, Jeffrey Ettinger, to read the 800 number on a package, something Ettinger could not do because, he said, the type was too small.

FDA officials at the hearing stood by their decision to categorize the gas as "generally recognized as safe," or GRAS, for use on red meat and tuna, a category that allows companies to bypass a public regulatory review.

"This particular issue is not a safety concern that is even a remote concern on our radar," said David Acheson, FDA's assistant commissioner for food protection.

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

Pardon me while I hurl.........