010612 Packers Warns About Irradiation Disinformation

Sauk Rapids, MN - Huisken Meats is cautioning Minnesotans that small groups of individuals, pretending to have expertise in food safety and food irradiation, are dispersing information that is highly distorted, misleading or untruthful. Huisken Meats asks that consumers and members of the media to contact Minnesota's Department of Health (651-215-1306) or other legitimate professionals in the fields of public health, medicine or nutrition to receive accurate information on food borne diseases, how they are transmitted and the safety and wholesomeness of food irradiation as a means to help eliminate deadly bacteria, such as E. coli in hamburger.

Approved by the FDA and USDA, Huisken Meats offers a line of hamburger products that have been treated with SureBeam Corporation's patented electron beam process that -- much like a microwave oven -- uses ordinary electricity as its energy source to instantly remove the threat of harmful bacteria without compromising the product's taste, texture or nutritional quality. The process does to food what milk pasteurization does to milk: it stops the spread of disease.

“We're dealing with food safety and the providing of a superior product known to be free of dangerous bacteria at point of sale,” said Huisken's Cliff Albertson. “We believe in giving the consumer this choice of assured safety, and we ask consumers to make their decision on what's best for their families based on honest, reliable and factual information derived from responsible public health professionals, rather than falling prey to a self-appointed activist parroting a myth.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 76 million Americans get sick every year from food borne diseases, and approximately 100 people -- mainly children and the elderly -- die each week. Last year, 40 states, including Minnesota, had food recalls because of E. coli contamination. The spread of the disease is not limited to any particular farming practice, nor farming. Two E. coli breakouts last year originated in children's petting zoos, while last month in Minneapolis the disease was reportedly spread from child to child at a day care center.

“Deadly bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella are endemic to the environment, and because we're dealing with microscopic organisms, contamination is mostly invisible, making visual detection often impossible,” says Albertson. “Disease-causing bacteria can be easily spread or cross- contaminated from food- to-food in the kitchen, as in the case of the child who died from eating cross- contaminated watermelon in Milwaukee last year. By purchasing Huisken's BeSure brand hamburgers, you have the confidence that the food is safe and wholesome, while also eliminating the potential of bringing harmful bacteria into your kitchen and home.”

FHS, Inc. is the parent company of Huisken Meats and Trail's Best Snacks. Huisken Meats manufactures frozen beef patties under the Huisken and RG's brands. Trail's Best Snacks makes more than 50 varieties of meat snacks, including beef jerky, kippered beefsteak, pickled sausages, and meat sticks.

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com