031125 Irradiated Meat Won't be Served at Iowa City Schools

KCRG-TV9: Iowa City, IA - Children in the Iowa City School District won't be eating irradiated meat at lunchtime.

While zapping the meat kills bacteria such as e-coli, school board members voted against buying it.

Instead they'll continue to buy ground beef and then have it cooked before it's sent to the schools.

District officials say the current process is less expensive and it still protects the students.

Irradiated meat is FDA approved, but it's still controversial.

District Nutritionist Diane Duncan-Goldsmith told TV9, "You'll find volumes of pros, volumes of cons and basically at this point in time we're not thinking child nutrition is the forum to test consumer acceptance of irradiated beef products."

Irradiated meat can cost 13 to 20 cents more per pound than regular ground beef.

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