000875 Antioxidant Wrappers Help Preserve Meat

HealthSCOUT - If it's brown, turn it down.

That's always seemed a good motto for people trying to figure out what to do with that pound of ground beef that's been sitting in the fridge or on the grocer's shelf for a while. But the fact is that meat can still be fine to eat even after losing its bright red color.

Now, though, research suggests that a new treatment could increase the shelf life of meat and keep it looking appetizing, too.

Not everyone thinks this is a good idea, however. Disguising a natural indicator of freshness could have safety implications, some warn.

Steaks wrapped in plastic wrap treated with antioxidants will last two to three days longer than regular meat, claims researcher Melissa Finkle, a graduate student at Clemson University. The steaks in her study also kept their red coloring. Finkle reported her findings this week at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Steaks typically turn brown before germ counts are high enough to make them actually spoil, she says. "They're undesirable to consumers before they're actually unsafe to eat," Finkle says in a written statement about her research.

Finkle added natural and synthetic antioxidants, often used as preservatives, to plastic wrap covering eye-of-round steaks. Two synthetic antioxidants -- BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) -- increased shelf life by two or three days, the study says. Steaks normally have a shelf life of four to six days, Finkle says.

The natural antioxidants she tried, rosemary extract and vitamin E, increased the shelf life only slightly, she says.

The treated steaks also stayed red longer than the untreated steaks, she says.

The results should apply to other beef products as well, she believes.

Phillip W. Harvey, director of science and quality assurance for the National Nutritional Foods Association, a trade organization, says it's not surprising that antioxidants would prevent spoilage of meat because they've been used to extend the shelf life of cereals.

"They're like a sponge that soaks up oxygen to prevent damaging effects on food," Harvey says. "They've been around a long time."

But whether it's safe to use them on meat remains an open question, he says.

Discoloration of meat is a "built-in signal" that lets people know it's beginning to spoil, agrees Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety & Quality Enhancement at the University of Georgia. That's why it's illegal for butchers to add chemicals to meat to make it look fresh, he says.

Using antioxidants on the wrapper may make meat look fresh when it isn't, and that "might be a bit deceptive," Doyle says.

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