ALABAMA A&M and AUBURN UNIVERSITIES

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GOVERNMENT CLEARS WAY FOR IRRADIATION OF RED MEAT

AUBURN, FEB. 19---"It's about time," says Alabama Cooperative Extension Food Scientist Dr. Jean Weese regarding the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) decision to implement irradiation of red meat.

Irradiation is a food processing technique that uses minute dosages of gamma radiation to rid food of potentially harmful microbes.

The Clinton administration's decision to permit irradiation of red meat follows a recent food recall of hot dogs, luncheon meats, milk and other products that may have been tainted with listeria, a potentially deadly food pathogen.

Administration officials concede irradiation will not be a panacea. They believe it will reduce the risk of exposure to harmful microbes such as listeria and E.coli.

Whether the public will accept irradiation isn't certain. While the meat industry has long sought implementation of the new procedure in ground beef, several large meat processors vow they won't adopt irradiation unless there is significant consumer demand for it.

Weese says irradiation remains the best method forguaranteeing a product free of food pathogens. The most common alternative to irradiation, cleaning fruits and vegetables with anti-bacterial solutions, will work to a degree but is no substitute for irradiation.

Auburn University researchers have undertaken studies to determine whether chlorine solutions can be used to kill pathogens in strawberries. But even after berries were soaked for 10 minutes, researchers still detected bacteria.

On the other hand, when berries were subjected even to light levels of irradiation, no bacteria was detected on the surface.

Irradiation, which is used on a wide array of foods in Western Europe, has been used on a limited scale in the United States. It doesn't make food radioactive, it just destroys food pathogens. The process is so simple that truckloads of a product can be irradiated at one time with no loss in quality, Weese says.

Most scientists agree gamma radiation of products poses no threat to humans. Dr. David Kessler, former administrator of the federal Food and Drug Administration who now serves as dean of Yale University Medical School, has expressed public support for speedy implementation of the procedure.

The Food and Drug Administration approved irradiationof red meat more than 10 years ago, but the process couldn't be implemented until the USDA established rules. Until now, efforts to finalize rules have faced bitter opposition from anti-nuclear and consumer groups.