021040 Irradiated Meat Allowed in Schools

Washington - Schools will be allowed for the first time to serve children meat that has been sterilized through irradiation, the Agriculture Department said.

Irradiation sterilizes food by using low levels of gamma rays or electrons to kill foodborne bacteria and parasites, such as harmful E. coli and salmonella.

The government began allowing companies to sell irradiated meat to the public in 1999, but it was prohibited in the school lunch program. The farm bill approved in May changed that, said Alisa Harrison, spokeswoman for the Agriculture Department.

Schools can buy irradiated meat by the end of the year, if they want, she said, emphasizing that it is optional.

The meat industry has been urging the agency to carry out such a measure, saying it will make products safer. Companies want the department to start a pilot program for purchasing irradiated ground beef for school lunches.

"It's time for USDA to acknowledge the food safety benefits of this technology and begin purchasing irradiated ground beef products for the nation's schoolchildren," J. Patrick Boyle, president and CEO of the American Meat Institute, said in a statement.

"Irradiation provides an extra margin of safety along with the many technologies already in use by the industry," he said.

Some activists believe irradiated food is unhealthy, even though the World Health Organization and the American Medical Association have said it is safe. The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen has strongly opposed the technology, arguing that the process destroys vitamins and nutrients and can cause chemicals to develop that are linked to cancer and birth defects.

Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Consumer Federation of America's Food Policy Institute, said she accepts that irradiated food is safe to eat, but warned that it is "certainly not a silver bullet" for foodborne illnesses.

Food poisonings in U.S. schools have been increasing 10% each year, according to a report this year by the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative and auditing arm. In 1999, there were 50 school-related outbreaks nationwide, with 2,900 illnesses. Many of them were linked to salmonella bacteria and Norwalk-like viruses.

Supporters of irradiation say the technology could reduce the number of foodborne illnesses.

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