Food & Water Watch

[Dee]

Dear Denise,

Last spring, USDA officials said they were considering a change in how
the agency tests meat for dangerous pathogens like E. coli. This was
welcome news after some of the largest meat recalls in history. But just a few months later, agency officials were backing off this plan. Instead, the meat industry wants to find a new use for a failed technology- irradiation.

The meat industry wants USDA to let them use irradiation on whole beef carcasses (normally irradiation is done at the end of the line after meat is processed and packaged.) And to make matters worse, they want the agency to change how irradiation is regulated so they won't have to label meat products that undergo this treatment.

Irradiation is an expensive, impractical technology that lets meat
companies try to cover up their sloppy practices rather than preventing contamination by slowing down their lines and cleaning up their plants. It creates new chemical byproducts in food and the long term health impacts of eating irradiated food are still unknown.

Consumers need USDA to do more testing for contamination in meat
plants, not let the meat industry try to push a quick fix that causes
more problems than it solves.

"Tell USDA you don't want more irradiation!"



Sincerely,


The Food Team

[tex]

Here's a Consumer Report on irradiated meat. This article appears to be about 5 or 6 years old, but it contains a lot of consumer-oriented information on the taste of irradiated meat, some history, and related statistics. Obviously, the reason for not including a notification on the label, is because history shows that if you advise consumers that the meat has been irradiated, sales volumes are extremely poor.

http://www.mindfully.org/Food/2003/Irra ... hAug03.htm

Tex

[Dee]

Good Grief!!
Singed hair, smell & taste???????
Makes me want to go vegetarian...


Love
Dee~~~