- Much to the consternation of consumer-advocacy groups
opposed to the process, Publix Super Markets Inc. soon will begin selling
its customers irradiated beef and chicken products.
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- Food irradiation is parasite-killing process some food
companies are turning to because they believe it makes their products safer.
Irradiation kills harmful parasites in food by exposing it to controlled
amounts of radiation.
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- Lakeland-based Publix, Florida's largest supermarket
chain, said that next year it will sell irradiated meat products -- under
the label New Generation -- because the company believes some consumers
think the treated products are safer than non-treated items.
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- Publix also may sell irradiated fresh fruit and vegetables
in the future. All irradiated-treated products are marked with a special
label.
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- "For the past several years, we have been carefully
monitoring consumer interest in irradiated products," said Lee Brunson,
a Publix spokesman. "We believe many customers would like the option
of purchasing these products as another line of defense against food-borne
illness.
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- "Irradiated ground beef also offers customers the
opportunity to cook their burgers rare, which is not a recommended food-safety
option with non-irradiated ground beef that should be cooked to 160 degrees."
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- Irradiation typically uses gamma rays from a solid radioactive
source to disrupt the DNA of dangerous bacteria, parasites, mold and fungus,
thus killing it or rendering it incapable of proliferating. In the case
New Generation treated products, food products are exposed to gamma rays
produced by radioactive cobalt-60. The rays go through and around the food
-- as well as the platters carrying them -- for about 30 to 40 minutes
in a 20-foot-by-20-foot concrete room.
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- Publix's New Generation meat products -- ground beef
patties, boneless chicken breasts and chicken tenders -- will be irradiated
by the Mulberry-based Food Technology Service Inc.
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- Publix, one of the top 10 U.S. supermarket chains, is
the first major grocery store in Florida to announce plans to sell a range
of irradiated beef and chicken. Publix, a privately traded company, has
24 stores in Brevard County.
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- Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. said it sells one brand of irradiated
beef patties, but those products haven't been all that popular with customers,
said Mickey Clerc, a company spokesman. If there is customer demand for
more irradiated-treated food products, Winn-Dixie will sell them, he said.
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- Some shoppers were nonchalant about the Publix news.
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- "It's another option for the customer," said
Thomas Lynch of Barefoot Bay, a frequent Publix shopper. "If you go
in there and don't want to buy it, you don't have to. You can buy something
else."
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- Some studies suggest the public is warming to the idea
of irradiated foods.
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- A Harris Poll in 1986 found that 76 percent of Americans
considered irradiation a hazard, but also admitted they knew little about
it. But studies in the late-'90s -- including one by the University of
Georgia -- showed that after being briefed on the process, up to 60 percent
of respondents said they would buy irradiated foods.
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- Monique Mikhail, a spokeswoman with the Washington, D.C.-based
Public Citizen, a consumer-advocacy group, said there hasn't been enough
testing on the food irradiation process to see if causes more harm than
good.
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- In general, Public Citizen is against irradiated meat
products, saying: "It's masking filthy practices" in the meat-processing
industry.
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- "It's a coverup of dirty meat," Mikhail said.
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- And Colleen Cramer, manager at Nature's Market in Melbourne,
said irradiation is "very, very, bad" for meat. Nature's Market
won't sell beef and poultry that has been irradiated, or artificially treated
with things like hormones or steroids.
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- Richard Hunter, president of Food Technology Service,
a 10-year-old company that trades on the Nasdaq SmallCap market, dismisses
critics of irradiation.
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- Many health-monitoring groups -- including the American
Medical Association, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization --
support irradiation.
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- Further, Hunter added, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention said if irradiated ground beef and poultry products were
more widely available, it would save 352 lives annually.
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- "People don't have to buy irradiated products if
they feel uncomfortable with the process," Hunter said. "But
for people who understand how much safer this food is, and want to do the
most to avoid any potential for food-borne illnesses, it's a great product."
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- Copyright © 2002 FLORIDA TODAY
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- http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/moneystoryA30296A.htm
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