000412 Irradiated Beef Faces Slow Rollout to Consumers

Kansas City, MO - Fearful of a negative public backlash, food companies and retailers are moving slowly to introduce irradiated ground beef products to store shelves, despite government approval granted in February, industry executives said.

While public opinion polls show that consumers are eager for safer meat products, there are a host of fears to overcome when it comes to the benefits of irradiation techniques, a group of industry players said at the 2000 Meat Marketing Conference held in Kansas City.

“There is a highly charged atmosphere around this issue,” said Pete Ellis, chief executive of Food Technology Service Inc., a Florida-based irradiation company for the food market. “Everybody will tell you they are interested in doing this, but they don't want to be first, they want to be a fast second.”

Irradiation techniques, which beam varying levels of radiation through food to kill illness-causing bacteria, can vastly reduce the number of people who suffer sickness or even death after eating meat tainted with E.coli, listeria and salmonella, proponents say.

About 5,000 people die annually from eating contaminated foods, so irradiation should be readily embraced, they say.

Instead, the proponents say, large food companies and government health officials are dragging their feet in rolling out marketing and consumer education programs necessary to advance irradiated meat into the marketplace. Fear of inciting public opposition such as has been seen with protests against genetically modified food products are a factor.

“It's frustrating,” said Ellis. “Everybody needs to be proactive, but it's not happening.”

One notable exception is Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which plans to test-market irradiated ground beef in its stores to determine consumer demand and the premium they would pay.

Wal-Mart executives announced the move in late February, and most retailers are content to let Wal-Mart lead the way, said Clemens Markets meat merchandising manager Al Kober. Clemens operates a chain of Pennsylvania retail outlets.

“We're waiting to see the response they get from consumers,” Kober said.

On the processing front, Colorado Boxed Beef Co. developed an assortment of introductory irradiated beef products that it plans to roll out in limited areas in Florida this month.

In addition to questions about consumer willingness to absorb added costs -- about 3 to 8 cents per pound with irradiation, according to industry estimates - - those marketing meat to consumers must overcome vague fears that radiation may be harmful when the meat is eaten, said the industry leaders.

Required labeling declaring the meat to have undergone radiation is not considered helpful in dispelling consumer fears, and needs active promotion before consumers will see the new label as a food safety sign, the industry players said.

Still, with an increasing consumer outcry for safer food products, irradiated beef will likely make up at least 15 percent of the ground beef market within three years, the industry group projected.

“The irradiation process takes care of all major pathogens responsible for food safety problems,” said Joseph Borsa, product manager for Canada-based MDS Nordion, an international radiation technology company with a majority stake in Food Technology Service. “This is a premium product.”

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com