Fwd: USDA Approves Nuked Meat!

[John Howe]

>Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 07:35:07 -0800 (PST)
>From: "Verne L. Chinampas" <moistearth at yahoo.com>
>Subject: Fwd: USDA Approves Nuked Meat!
>
>I'm forwarding this from a reliable source though I haven't
>double-checked the facts yet.
>
>Organic foods sounds better all the time, don't they?
>verne
>****
>
>Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 18:34:28 -0500
>From: Leigh Hauter <lh at pressroom.com>
>Subject: USDA Approves Nuked Meat!
>
>Consumers Beware:  USDA Approves Nuked Meat!
>
>The US meat industry can now irradiate refrigerated or frozen raw beef,
>pork, lamb, as well as meat products to prevent disease rather than
>solving
>the problem by instituting more sanitary packing and handling
>conditions,
>according to a December 14, 1999 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
>announcement. USDA also weakened its existing regulations for poultry,
>including no longer requiring that poultry be irradiated in the package
>in
>which it is sold.  This means that irradiated poultry products can be
>used
>as ingredients in further processed products, such as TV dinners.
>
>Unfortunately, rather than cleaning up the filthy conditions at large,
>corporate farms and industrial slaughterhouses, the meat industry and
>their
>allies in the U.S. government are promoting food irradiation as a way
>to
>
>prevent food-borne illness. Food irradiation will not solve the
>problems
>
>associated with the unsanitary conditions at huge factory sized farms
>from
>which feces-covered animals are transported to industrialized-size
>slaughtering facilities. Workers at these facilities are required to
>speed-up work, for instance, "processing" as many as 300 cows an hour,
>and
>too few USDA inspectors are on hand to insure that procedures to
>prevent
>
>contamination are followed.
>
>USDA's Retail Labeling Requirements for Meat
>
>While the new USDA rule does include a labeling requirement (a radura)
>on
>irradiated meat and poultry products sold at retail, meat served in
>facilities like restaurants, hospitals or school cafeterias does not
>have
>to be labeled.  This means that consumer's will have no way of insuring
>they the meat they eat in these establishments is not irradiated.
>Consumers
>of fast food burgers should be especially concerned, since hamburger
>patties are a prime candidate for irradiation.
>
>Moreover, if the FDA does not continue to require labeling, the USDA is
>unlikely to require labeling. USDA is "harmonizing" all of their food
>regulations with the FDA. Requirements are as follows:
>
>1) Packaged meat products irradiated in their entirety must bear the
>international radura symbol. Unfortunately, the symbol, which contains
>simple petals in a broken circle is benevolent looking and its meaning
>is
>not widely recognized. Additionally, products must either include the
>word
>"irradiated" as part of the product name or must bear a statement such
>as
>"Treated with radiation" or "Treated by irradiation." The radura must
>be
>
>placed in conjunction with the required statement, if the statement is
>used. The statement is not required to be more prominent than the
>declaration of ingredients and it can be anywhere on the package.
>
>2) Unpackaged meat products irradiated in their entirety are required
>to
>
>have the radura symbol and a statement "prominently and conspicuously"
>displayed to purchasers either through labeling on a bulk container or
>"some other appropriate device." The agency does not define what this
>"other appropriate device" could be.
>
>3) USDA is also allowing labeling statements and claims regarding the
>"beneficial effects" and the purpose of irradiation.
>
>4) Multi-ingredient products, which include an irradiated meat product,
>must only reflect its inclusion in the ingredient statement on the
>finished
>product's label.
>
>5) USDA eliminated two labeling requirements for poultry. The
>requirements
>that "letters used for the qualifying statement shall be no less than
>one-third the size of the largest letter in the product name" and
>second,
>that the radura logo on irradiated poultry product labels be colored
>green
>have been eliminate
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John Howe

<http://www.arashi.com/>
John Howe <johnhowe at arashi.com>