Ahead of the Bell:Meat packaging hearing

Ahead of the Bell:Meat packaging hearing

	Published : Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:48 By : Agencies Print this Story

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two of the nation's largest meat producers on Tuesday will defend a packaging technique which lawmakers say endangers consumers by keeping meat looking fresh even after it has gone bad.

Hormel Foods Corp. and Cargill Inc. both package beef and other products with small traces of carbon monoxide gas, which gives the meat a bright red coloring. Executives for the companies are expected to tell members of Congress that the benefits of the gas go beyond appearances.

'This is a packaging technology that we think has clear benefits,' said Julie Craven, spokeswoman for Hormel. 'It basically holds the color in, but more importantly allows it to maintain freshness for a longer period of time.'

But executives are unlikely to find a receptive audience among Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee, who called the hearing. Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak of Michigan has called the practice a 'dangerous deception' that can be used to mask spoiled meat and fish from consumers.

Tuesday's hearing comes in a year that has seen more than 30 million pounds of beef pulled of the market due to possible E. coli contamination. The most recent recall, involving 1 million pounds of ground beef from Cargill, took place earlier this month.

After Stupak launched an investigation into meat packaging earlier this year, Tyson Foods Inc. said it would discontinue using carbon monoxide, and grocery chains Safeway Inc. and Giant Food Inc. said they would no longer carry the products.

Although customers are instructed to look at 'use-by' dates and not color as an indicator of meat freshness, 'we discovered many customers typically rely on this characteristic to identify freshness,' said Giant Food Vice President, Andrea Astrachan in a statement.

Target Corp. continues to sell the meat, but labels alert consumers to the artificial coloring.

Under a bill co-authored by Stupak and other House Democrats, all meat and seafood producers would have to place a bold 'safety notice' on any products treated with carbon monoxide, warning consumers not to rely on the product's coloring.

Consumer advocates at Tuesday's hearing are expected to urge lawmakers to go further and require the Food and Drug Administration to revisit its policy on the packaging technique.

The FDA gave companies the go-ahead to use carbon monoxide for meat packaging in 2002 without conducting any new research, since the gas is generally recognized as safe in small amounts. However, consumer advocacy groups say the FDA needs to study whether the unnatural coloring of meat puts consumers at increased risk of eating spoiled beef, poultry and seafood.

The FDA's Assistant Commissioner for Food Protection David Acheson is scheduled to represent the agency at the hearing.