Irradiated Beef in School Lunchrooms.

[Freejack2]

Glad I'm not a kid in school anymore. :/

January 29, 2003
The Question of Irradiated Beef in Lunchrooms
By MARIAN BURROS


IRRADIATED beef may be coming soon to your local school cafeteria.

The farm bill that was passed last May directs the Agriculture Department to buy irradiated beef for the federal school lunch program. It will be up to local school districts to decide if they want it.

Americans have been reluctant to buy food that is irradiated, a process that uses electrons or gamma rays to kill harmful bacteria like salmonella and E. coli 0157:H7, which cause food poisoning. Some people fear, wrongly, that the food is radioactive. Others are concerned that the process hasn't been tested well. They may be correct.

Based on European studies showing the formation of cancer-causing properties in irradiated fat, the European Union, which allows irradiation only for certain spices and dried herbs, has voted not to permit any further food irradiation until more studies have been done.

Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America, said: "There is nowhere in the world where a large population has eaten large amounts of irradiated food over a long period of time. It makes me queasy that we are going to feed it to schoolchildren."

Advocates of meat irradiation have been struggling for public acceptance; some irradiated meat is being sold. But some within the food industry criticize the tactics being used to gain acceptance for food irradiation. Diane Toops, the news and trend editor of Food Processing, a trade magazine, said in this column in 2001: "The irradiation business is making all of the same mistakes biotechnology has made, trying to force their new technology down the throats of consumers who have a lot of questions."

Because the word irradiation conjures up radioactivity and, more recently, the method by which anthrax spores have been killed, the industry has tried to keep it off food packaging. It is lobbying to use a word with which people are more comfortable: pasteurized.

A farm bill provision, added by Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat, directs the Food and Drug Administration to look for a less fear-inducing word. Senator Harkin, a longtime proponent of food safety, is also responsible for the language in the bill that directs the Agriculture Department to buy irradiated meat.

The same month the farm bill passed, according to the Federal Election Commission in 2002, Senator Harkin received a $5,000 campaign contribution from the Titan Corporation, which until last August owned the SureBeam Corporation of Sioux City, Iowa, the country's largest food irradiator. Tricia Enright, Mr. Harkin's spokeswoman, said: "Tom Harkin's record as a leader of food safety is unparalleled. His commitment to this technology goes back decades."

The Harkin provision has given the Bush administration what it asked for in 2001: irradiated beef in the school lunch program, in place of testing for bacterial contamination. School lunches fall under the jurisdiction of Dr. Peter S. Murano, deputy administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service. He and his wife, Dr. Elsa Murano, the Agriculture Department's under secretary for food safety, are known for their writings on the use of irradiation to improve food safety. Previously, she ran the food irradiation program at Iowa State University.

To convince the public that irradiation is necessary because food poisoning has been increasing in schools, the meat industry cites a General Accounting Office study issued on April 30, 2002, that maintains that such outbreaks are rising at the rate of 10 percent a year.

But Dr. Robert Tauxe, chief of the foodborne and diarrheal diseases branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "The percent of outbreaks in schools hasn't changed in the last 10 years." The statistical change, he said, is due to better reporting.

Although the Agriculture Department is authorized to offer irradiated meat to schools, the secretary of agriculture, Ann M. Veneman, is moving slowly. So far, it is served only in schools in a pilot program in Minneapolis. According to the Center for Food Safety, a nonprofit Washington advocacy group, which opposes irradiation of food, of more than 1,500 comments the Agriculture Department received from the public on the subject, two-thirds were against it.

"I don't think the right place to start this is in the school lunch program," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "There is not enough public acceptance. It's essential parents be allowed to sign off before irradiated meat is allowed. If kids don't have the right to refuse and it's not labeled, it's really taking consumer choice away."

The American School Food Service Association, a trade group, states that irradiation will make beef safer and save money, because salmonella testing will no longer be necessary. That idea angers people like Ms. DeWaal, who said, "Irradiation is not a substitute for testing."

Barry Sackin, a lobbyist for the food service association, said that school districts will have the right to refuse irradiated meat, and when it is used, it will have to be labeled. "The last thing we need is a reporter who puts out a story that kids are served irradiated meat and parents didn't know," he said.

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

 

[RU482]

the kids in this country are screwed anyway, why not feed them glow in the dark food

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Ok...

I am not sure from a scientific standpoint of what the problem is here.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

The Harkin provision has given the Bush administration what it asked for in 2001: irradiated beef in the school lunch program, in place of testing for bacterial contamination.

The first standard was "contamination exemplified by visible feces".

The tighter standard was "random check for surface bacterial contamination."

The latest standard will be "who cares just blast it . . . crap and all."

 

[Soybomb]

Wussy kids, in my day we liked a little bacteria in our foods!

With all the hormones cattle are fed, etc irridated food wouldn't be at the top of my concern list.

 

[DaveSimmons]

But it will give kids super powers, just like Adam West in that Family Guy episode

 

[PsychoAndy]

The farm bill that was passed last May directs the Agriculture Department to buy irradiated beef for the federal school lunch program. It will be up to local school districts to decide if they want it.

If there's such a public outcry, they don't have to have it. Big deal.

Edit: This is assuming that you actually GET beef. Most things here are turkey, or what we suspect are turkey derivatives.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

I am not sure from a scientific standpoint of what the problem is here.

The problem is the big processors typically cover the two main carcass classes . . . beef and poultry. Although food poisonings have increased it is being attributed to enhanced reporting. Curiously, random checks of surface contamination have dramatic increases in bacterial contamination of beef, poultry, fish, and eggs. These same surveillance methods are showing cross contamination. Beef menaces like e. coli 0175:H7 showing up on sprouts, in juice, and on poultry. Salmonella moving from poultry to becoming the #1 surface bacteria on beef. Campylobacter rates on chicken ranges from 20-100% . . . yes that means every damn chicken is contaminated . . . not surprisingly this is now the #1 cause of bacterial diarrhea in America.

Proper cooking will solve most bacterial issues . . . except fecal deposits . . . which happens more often than you want to know. Next time you buy eggs take a close look.

Irradiation does not solve the larger issue which is appropriate inspection and processing of food. Unless of course our future is to have EVERYTHING irradiated.

 

[Amused]

There is nothing wrong with using irradiation on top of tight quality control. The so called "cancer causing agents" are created whenever food is cooked.

The anti-irradiation hype and all it's excuses are some of the stupidest propaganda I've heard in a long time.

WTF would you not want food irradiated, unless you're just plain ignorant?

BTW, not only will irradiation ensure safer foods, but it will dramatically increase food shelf life and decrease loss to insects. This will save consumers and producers billions of dollars a year in food waste.

WHO, the FDA, the AMA and countless other agnencies endorse irradiation. And NASA has used it for years on the food for our space program.

 

[Desslok]

What is the big deal here? Have you taken ANY science classes? This is the only way you will know you kill everything.

 

[Zebo]

OMFG Irradiated Quick, hide under the desk.

 

[N8Magic]

Originally posted by: Amused
There is nothing wrong with using irradiation on top on tight quality control. The so called "cancer causing agents" are created whenever food is cooked.

The anti-irradiation hype and all it's excuses are some of the stupidest propaganda I've heard in a long time.

WTF would you not want food irradiated, unless you're just plain ignorant?

BTW, not only will irradiation ensure safer foods, but it will dramatically increase food shelf life and decrease loss to insects. This will save consumers and producers billions of dollars a year in food waste.

Thanks for summing up my thoughts on this issue.

 

[Vampirrella]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
But it will give kids super powers, just like Adam West in that Family Guy episode

lol

 

[miniMUNCH]

Irradiation is very cost effective and protects public health far more than it hurts it...that whole cancer causing crap is totally spun.

The question to ask is what's the cancer risk compared to breathing Los Angeles air for ten years...I bet my left nut it's basically zero.

And the EU is fvckin' retarded with their food and agricultural regulations...I knew a gentleman who was agricultural inspector in the UK and had done significant consulting work for other European governments (i.e. showing them how to inspect cattle, etc.). His judgement of EU regs was that they were totally whacked...they rather have mad cow disease than enforce practices that the FDA has required for 20 years.

 

[Aceshigh]

When I was in England, I would go to the grocery store and they had the milk and eggs sitting at room temperature on the shelf. No refrigeration at all. Someone told me that they irradiate the milk and eggs they sell over there, and that's why they didn't have to be refrigerated, all the bacteria inside had been killed. Supposedly the milk and eggs would be good for months.

 

[dolph]

Originally posted by: Aceshigh
When I was in England, I would go to the grocery store and they had the milk and eggs sitting at room temperature on the shelf. No refrigeration at all. Someone told me that they irradiate the milk and eggs they sell over there, and that's why they didn't have to be refrigerated, all the bacteria inside had been killed. Supposedly the milk and eggs would be good for months.

ditto for france, spain, belgium, and holland.

everything i've read and heard about irradiated food has lead me to believe it's fine. if there's a real chance it's not, i would like to see evidence that at least proves the need for further testing. i am a little tired of people making rather loud, unsubstantiated claims that only 100% organic is safe, and any food that science touches will kill you and steal your car. gmos have the potential to save millions of lives, and governments are letting their people starve to death rather than giving them food that wasn't hand picked right off the tree.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

National Academies Press

Appropriate tests to study the actual safety factor of irradiated food exposure did not exist when this review was completed by the Institute of Medicine in 1999. Irradiated food is unlikely to be dangerous in small amounts and probably will not cause harm with long term intake. Fortunately, the standard we use for our food supply is overwelming evidence for safety.

Admittedly, I am an irradiation proponent but I would not substitute my "educated" guess on the safety of irradiated food over good science.

To play into the food supply paranoia, what would happen to the security of the food supply if visual/biochemical evaluation of food is considered obsolete b/c everything will be irradiated? Our food would be very susceptible to chemical tampering. Irradiation will be used as an excuse for greater laxity in regulating the slaughter of animals and their subsequent processing. It is certainly cheaper to just zap it than to carefully kill and process animals using methodology that reduces risk of fecal/cross contamination.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

gmos have the potential to save millions of lives, and governments are letting their people starve to death rather than giving them food that wasn't hand picked right off the tree.

Different topic but let's take advances like terminator seeds (Monsanto) and various other Franken foods. Planting novel crops (drought-resistant corn) in novel locations (desert) is one thing but introducing GM strains into the wild is quite perilous. Losing containment could mean decimating native organisms. The issues for GM foods must be resolved before we start playing Mother Nature b/c the consequences for mistakes may be catastrophic.

And if you knew anything about the UN Food Program you would be aware that almost all of the world could be fed sufficiently without the use of a single GM product.

 

[EdipisReks]

Originally posted by: Vampirrella

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
But it will give kids super powers, just like Adam West in that Family Guy episode

lol

i felt so sorry for Meg, with the fingernails and all. "did you just scratch me? look, is that bleeding...? no, but uh, that kinda hurt."

 

[EdipisReks]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
And if you knew anything about the UN Food Program you would be aware that almost all of the world could be fed sufficiently without the use of a single GM product.

but i like General Motors, and their products. kinda.

 

[Siddhartha]

Irradiating food is a good way to sterile it which means that it will less likely make people sick.

 

[rockyct]

Doesn't this just remind you of the Simpsons episode where the mob is the milk provider for the school?

 

[Tominator]

Originally posted by: N8Magic

Originally posted by: Amused
There is nothing wrong with using irradiation on top on tight quality control. The so called "cancer causing agents" are created whenever food is cooked.

The anti-irradiation hype and all it's excuses are some of the stupidest propaganda I've heard in a long time.

WTF would you not want food irradiated, unless you're just plain ignorant?

BTW, not only will irradiation ensure safer foods, but it will dramatically increase food shelf life and decrease loss to insects. This will save consumers and producers billions of dollars a year in food waste.

Thanks for summing up my thoughts on this issue.

Exactly!

Imagine no refrigeration needed for fresh meat and vegetables that last WEEKS without special care.

Imagine sending 55 gallon drums of chickens to the starving in Africa. No refrigeration required!

 

[glen]

FWIW, "Terminator" seeds have been around since 1974.
They were developed for a tobacco company and planted in Hungary.
The article can be accessed in Nature online I believe.

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: Tominator

Originally posted by: N8Magic

Originally posted by: Amused
There is nothing wrong with using irradiation on top on tight quality control. The so called "cancer causing agents" are created whenever food is cooked.

The anti-irradiation hype and all it's excuses are some of the stupidest propaganda I've heard in a long time.

WTF would you not want food irradiated, unless you're just plain ignorant?

BTW, not only will irradiation ensure safer foods, but it will dramatically increase food shelf life and decrease loss to insects. This will save consumers and producers billions of dollars a year in food waste.

Thanks for summing up my thoughts on this issue.

Exactly!

Imagine no refrigeration needed for fresh meat and vegetables that last WEEKS without special care.

Imagine sending 55 gallon drums of chickens to the starving in Africa. No refrigeration required!

Imagine sending 16 oz. drums...they are called "cans".