News Update

News Update
Nov. 13, 2007

Modified Atmosphere Packaging Back to the Woodshed on Capitol Hill

Industry and administration officials are testifying today before a House subcommittee on the role of meat packaging in food safety.

The fourth in a series of food safety hearings, the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee will address what it calls “deception in labeling.”

Along with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials, Cargill CEO Gregory Page and Hormel Chairman Jeff Ettinger were called to testify. At earlier hearings a number of meat industry association leaders testified to the safety of current meat packaging technology.

“Cargill is deeply committed to serving the needs of our customers. The low oxygen technology ... is an important evolution in packaging technology,” Page said in prepared testimony.

“Jeff Ettinger is looking forward to explaining the benefits of modified atmosphere packaging with this audience,” Hormel spokeswoman Julie Craven told Meatingplace.com.

“Low oxygen packaging systems with minute levels of carbon monoxide keep meat fresher and good tasting longer, which benefits consumers,” American Meat Institute Foundation Vice President of Scientific Affairs Randy Huffman said in a statement released today.

Target is Latest Target

The hearing is the latest in a campaign by Committee Chairman John Dingell and committee member Bart Stupack, both Michigan Democrats, to rid U.S. grocery shelves of meat packaged with low levels of carbon monoxide, which extends the meat's red blush color.

Due in part to pressure from Dingell and Stupack, Safeway Inc. and Ahold NV's Giant Food and Stop & Shop stores have stopped selling meat treated with CO, and Tyson Foods stopped using the packaging technology.

Most recently, the two congressmen sent a letter to Target Corp. questioning its use of the packaging, prompting Target to ask USDA to allow the company to publish warning labels on CO-treated meat packaging.

“We received [Target's] letter Friday evening and will consider the request just as Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) does for all label requests,” USDA’s FSIS Spokeswoman Amanda Eamich told Meatingplace.com.

Bovine TB Linked To BC/Alberta Farms

About 470 cattle in British Columbia and Alberta will have to be culled after a random test showed a bull that had lived in both provinces had bovine tuberculosis (TB), a CBC News report states.

As many as 30 farms in the two provinces have been quarantined, although no additional infected animals have been found, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

The CFIA found a bull with the disease at a harvesting facility in Quebec in August, veterinarian Maria Koller-Jones said. The agency traced it back to a farm in Vanderhoof, B.C., located 100 kilometers west of Prince George, and then learned the bull had also spent part of its life in Alberta.

It's unlikely the infection spread, but in an announcement on its web site Nov. 9, the CFIA said all infected animals or any that had been exposed to the disease had to be immediately culled.

The owners will be compensated, the agency said.

Bovine tuberculosis can cause weakness, loss of appetite, weight loss and fluctuating fever in animals. It can spread to humans or other mammals through prolonged, close contact.

The last case in Canadian cattle was in 2004.

Source: Canadian Meat Business

— compiled by Mathew Elliott, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc. (API)