Wall Street Journal
Commodities Report:
U.S. Weighs Use of Irradiated Meat in School Lunches
By Bill Tomson
"It isn't just consumer groups that question the effects that irradiated food might have on comsumers. U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona has said he didn't believe there was enough scientific evidence gathered on the long-term effects of irradiation."
The pilot project proposal states: " A successful outcome...will be the acceptance and intoduction of irradiated meat in select district."
Definitions
Survey: Quantitative information collection.
Market research: The craft of linking the producers (or potential producers) of a product or service with customers, both existing and potential.
Test marketing: A small-scale product launch used to determine the likely acceptance of the product when it is introduced into a wider market.
Convention, Reno NV
Nelson Garcia
Under Secretary Eric Bost
... The American Medical Association and the World Health Organization have declared that irradiated foods are safe to eat [but introduction has been] impeded, however, by a reluctance among consumers to eat things that have been exposed to radiation. ... The Beef Industry Food Safety Council -- whose members include the meatpacking and fast food giants -- has asked the USDA to change its rules [on having a special radiation label] and make the labeling of irradiated meat completely voluntary. The meatpacking industry is also working hard to get rid of the word 'irradiation,' much preferring the phrase 'cold pasteurization.'
Steven Bjerklie, the former editor of Meat & Poultry .. thinks it will reduce pressure on the meatpacking industry to make fundamental and necessary changes in their production methods, allowing unsanitary practices to continue. 'I don't want to be served irradiated feces along with my meat,', Bjerklie says."
Eric Schossler, Fast Food Nation; The Dark Side of the All-American Meal,
(Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001), pp. 217 – 218
USDA "Education" Project Distorts Truth About Food Irradiation
Campaign to Encourage Schools to Serve Irradiated Foods Denounced;
Passage of Right-to-Know Legislation Urged
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Information about food irradiation that the U.S.Department of Agriculture (USDA) has begun offering to school districts across the country is inaccurate and misleading, the consumer group Public Citizen said today. The agency's new information program follows its decision in May to permit irradiated beef in the National School Lunch Program.
The USDA last week posted its materials on the Web and is urging all
state food service directors to use them. The materials were developed
by the Minnesota Department of Education as part of an "education"
campaign to promote irradiation in three Minnesota school districts. TheUSDA is now planning to expand the campaign nationwide. The campaign has come under fire since it was revealed that the food irradiation industry exerted undue influence over the direction of the program, to the exclusion of consumer groups.
"Given that this is National School Lunch Week, it is particularly
galling that this so-called education project is nothing more than a
propaganda campaign for the food irradiation industry," said Wenonah
Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and
Environment Program. "The food irradiation industry has not gotten much traction in the marketplace, so its next scheme is to get the federal government to bail it out by serving irradiated ground beef to
unsuspecting schoolchildren."
The "education" project was such a failure in Minnesota that one school
district - Sauk Rapids - dropped out because officials there felt they
would be promoting irradiation instead of educating parents and studentsabout it. The other two districts - Spring Lake Park and Willmar -decided against ordering irradiated ground beef for the 2003-2004 schoolyear. In addition, a number of California school districts - in LosAngeles, Berkeley, Ukiah and Point Arena - have banned irradiated foods.Other school districts that have said they will not serve irradiated foods include Boston, Cleveland, New York City and San Diego.
The USDA's materials contain a "Public Relations Tool Kit," describing
how to promote irradiation at the school district level. Misleading
statements in the material include:
- "Irradiation produces no unique chemicals."
Reality: Researchers have known for more than 30 years that irradiation
causes the formation of chemical byproducts, including a class of
chemicals called 2-ACBs, which recently were shown to promote the
cancer-development process in rats.
- "The best scientific studies, conducted over many years, show no
adverse health effects from consuming irradiated food."
Reality: Animals fed irradiated foods in experiments dating back 50
years have suffered dozens of health problems, including premature
death, mutations, reproductive problems, immune system disorders,
tumors, organ damage and stunted growth. Further, there is a lack of
research on the potential health effects of feeding irradiated foods to
children, who are more susceptible than adults to adverse effects of
consuming toxic substances.
- "Vitamin losses from irradiation are insignificant and are lower than
those from canning or freezing."
Reality: Studies have shown that some foods can lose up to 95 percent
of their vitamin content when irradiated.
- "There is no link between food irradiation and nuclear power or
nuclear weapons."
Reality: Radioactive cobalt-60, produced by a nuclear reaction, is used
to irradiate food. Cesium-137, a waste product of nuclear bomb
production, can legally be used for irradiation, though it is not now
being used. All forms of ionizing radiation - whether generated by an
electronic beam or a radioactive isotope - cause the same adverse
effects in food.
- "Irradiation results in little if any change to the appearance, taste
and nutritional value of food."
Reality: Numerous studies indicate that irradiation can corrupt the
flavor, odor, appearance and texture of food. Beef can smell like a wet
dog, pork can turn red, fruit and vegetables can become mushy, and eggs can become runny. A Consumer Reports study on irradiated foods publishedin August 2003 found that irradiated ground beef had a "singed hair"taste.
- "NASA has been irradiating food for its astronauts since the
1970s…and experience with NASA astronauts indicates compounds formed
during food irradiation pose no unique risk to human beings."
Reality: According to NASA, less than 2 percent of the food consumed by
astronauts on space missions is irradiated, and eating it is optional.
The astronauts are not required to eat irradiated food after their
missions have been completed, so this is not a valid example for the
USDA to use.
Public Citizen supports the passage of the Right to Know School
Nutrition Act (H.R. 3120), introduced in September by Rep. Barbara Lee(D-Calif.). The bill would guarantee that balanced information on food
irradiation would be provided to parents and children and also requires
that irradiated food served in schools be labeled.
To read the USDA's marketing materials on irradiation, please go to
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/.
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Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in
Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.citizen.org.