Meat treatment procedure approved even as scientists raised questions

This is not likely to increase your confidence in the safety of U.S. food: The U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2004 approved using carbon monoxide gas 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 the other day. The Washington Post’s Rick Weiss writes that the tests, conducted by Cargill and Hormel Foods, both based in Minnesota, were part of a joint effort to persuade federal regulators to allow use of the gas without going through a public approval process. The two companies’ tests were meant to show that the procedure was safe — and, up to a point they did, but they also showed an inexplicable phenomenon: Microbial counts on meat which 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 some kind of error. E-mail exchanges among scientists from Hormel and Cargill show that they were puzzled by the test results, but USDA scientists were not. They relied on the test results to reverse the agency’s earlier decision to oppose the technology. In July 2004, acting on USDA’s recommendation, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the technology final approval.

The USDA did not find the test result questionable, but in a congressional hearing the CEOs of both Cargill and Hormel said that their companies are willing to put labels on their carbon monoxide-treated meats which would say, “Color is not an accurate indicator of freshness.” The companies’ concession on the issue was but the latest victory for those who oppose use of the gas on meat and say that consumers are being deceived into thinking meat is fresher than it is. Opponents of the procedure brought with them to the hearing two-year old packages of ground beef which looked red and fresh. Weiss writes that Giant Food, Stop & Shop, and Safeway stores recently announced 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. Last Friday Target stores asked the USDA for permission to use labels that would say: “Carbon monoxide has been used to preserve the color of this product. Do not rely on color or the ‘use or freeze by’ date alone to judge the freshness of the product.”

Industry officials complain that they lose $1 billion in sales every year from having to discard or discount meat which is still edible but does not look red and appetizing, defended the gas, which locks in red color indefinitely. “We’re very comfortable with the science surrounding this packaging,” said Gregory Page, Cargill’s CEO, noting that the company has received 48 complaints of “off” meat out of 23 million packages sold — every one of which has the company’s toll-free telephone number. 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 which allows companies to bypass a public regulatory review. The technology is banned by the European Union, Japan, and Canada.