At a gathering held in Washington, D.C. yesterday, opponents of the use of irradiated foods in the US voiced their disapproval of Giant Food's decision to sell irradiated beef at its chain stores.
Representatives and supporters from advocacy groups such as Public Citizen and the Centre for Food Safety were present to voice their concerns over the increasing use of irradiation to treat fresh food produce.
"Giant Food's decision to sell irradiated ground beef is irresponsible because of the potential harm to consumers, the environment and animal welfare," public interest groups stated at a press conference outside the Giant store in Cleveland Park.
The grocery store chain, which has stores in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey and the District of Columbia, began carrying irradiated ground beef in its stores on 3 November. The irradiated meat is produced by Carneco Foods (in partnership with the world's largest beef producer IBP), in Nebraska, and is irradiated by SureBeam, the largest irradiation company.
In calling for a new approach to food safety, speakers at the press conference highlighted health, safety and regulatory questions about irradiation.
"At the same time they are pushing irradiation, the meat industry is trying to take away the authority of the USDA to inspect meat and slow down the lines in meat plants," said Tom Devine, legal director for Government Accountability Project. "Irradiation is a poor substitute for strong government meat inspection and clean production."
Added Ken Midkiff, director of the Sierra Club's Clean Water Campaign, "Irradiation is a tool big meat companies want to use to mask the filthy conditions on giant factory farms. Intensive animal production methods not only have an impact on food safety, but produce staggering amounts of waste that foul the air and water and drive family farmers out of business."
The arrival of irradiated ground beef in Giant stores has received considerable media attention, and the product has been deeply discounted. But previous test-marketing efforts of irradiated food in several states ended with the product being pulled from shelves due to disappointing sales. The federal government has also scrutinised SureBeam's advertising practices, which include comparing irradiation to the familiar process of pasteurisation.
"Over the past few years, people across the country have rejected irradiated meat," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen. "But instead of allowing consumers to make an informed choice, SureBeam compares its products to entirely different processes - like pasteurisation. We are here to educate the public with the rest of the story about irradiation, so consumers can say 'no' to this technology with their food dollars."
The advocacy groups base their arguments against food irradiation on claims that the process depletes vitamins and nutrients, and forms new chemicals that have not been adequately studied for toxicity. Food irradiation companies claim that this depletion and chemical change is relatively insignifcant. The advocacy groups also claim that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not properly assess the safety of irradiated food before legalising it for human consumption, research by Public Citizen has found.
Peter Jenkins, policy analyst with Center for Food Safety, pointed out that some of the chemicals found in irradiated meat have significant potential to impact human health. "There is growing scientific evidence of potential genetic damage to consumers and their future children from irradiated foods. The expansion of irradiated foods in supermarkets is an out-of-control experiment using millions of Americans as guinea pigs," said Jenkins.
The groups said meat safety should be considered throughout the production process, negating the need for irradiation at the end.
"Giant and SureBeam want consumers to think that irradiation provides some 'added assurance' about food safety," said Richard Caplan, environmental advocate with USPIRG. "But the best way to ensure food safety is to produce wholesome meat in the first place, instead of figuring out how to kill bacteria at the last possible step. Instead of a silver bullet, we need to focus on production that will benefit family farmers, the environment and consumers."
The growing number of food poisoning outbreaks in the US over the past few months have raised increasing concerns over the safety of fresh foods in the US market, particularly fresh and frozen meat produce. Increasingly food manufacturers there are turning to irradiation as a means of ensuring that harmful airborne bacteria, such as E. coli, are destroyed.
In Europe, the European Commission has imposed a complete ban on the approval of all irradiated foods except dried vegetable stock, herbs and spices. Here the outlook for the irradiation industry seems all but bleak at present. The handful of irradiation companies that deal in food blame the phenomenal power of advocacy groups such as Friends of the Earth, in persuading consumers to stay away from what the European irradiation companies claim is a tried and tested means of improving food safety.
