Washington - The U.S. Agriculture Department will issue two sets of rules this summer proposing how plants can use irradiation to kill bacteria on red meat, and how to label the product.
Tom Billy, head of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, said the two proposed rules would be the next step in clearing the way for meat packing plants to use tiny doses of gamma rays or X-rays to kill bacteria. Last December, the Food and Drug Administration approved the meat industry's use of irradiation but left it to the USDA to develop regulations for its application.
Billy said both rules would be issued for public comment this summer.
But it remains to be seen whether consumers will be willing to buy a product labelled as irradiated, and whether meat plants will make the investment in the technology, USDA officials said. The same process was approved for poultry earlier this decade but it has not been widely adopted because of the cost and consumer concerns.
"Will the public ever endorse this? I can't tell you that -- I don't know," USDA Secretary Dan Glickman told a food policy conference sponsored by Public Voice and the National Food Processors Association.
"At this point I'm not real keen about the government going out and selling technology," Glickman added. "I think irradiation has a place in the food safety scheme but I do not think it is a silver bullet."
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