040916 Irradiated Beef Safer, But Losing Popularity

Aberdeen American News - Aberdeen, SD - Schools in Nebraska and Minnesota have recently canceled their orders for irradiated beef, adding more controversy to a treatment method that most experts say makes meat virtually immune to harmful bacteria.

Schools in South Dakota and North Dakota, like those in the vast majority of the nation, don't use irradiated beef, though the voices of those pointing to its benefits are growing louder.

Dennis Feickert, an area beef producer and Brown County commissioner, said he would like to see South Dakota schools put aside misconceptions about such meat and start adding it to their menus.

"The government has done the research and they gave approval for it," he said. "That's why it's happened in school lunch programs. There's this perception that anything with radiation is bad when it's really not."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave schools the option of ordering irradiated meat beginning in January 2004, but a spokesperson with the South Dakota Department of Education said on Friday that no schools in South Dakota have ordered the beef.

Studies done by the USDA and Food and Drug Administration have determined that it's safe to eat irradiated meat, which is exposed to radiation designed to rid the meat of harmful bacteria. The United Nation's World Health Organization and the American Medical Association have also endorsed the product.

Other countries have been eating irradiated beef without any health problems being reported.

"In the European countries, it's been done for years," said Feickert, who raises cattle northwest of Aberdeen. "There's this perception around here that it's unsafe, but I'm under the impression it adds safety points to beef."

Doug Gray, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Education, told the Omaha World- Herald earlier this month that the state canceled 93 orders by schools for irradiated beef because of price and safety concerns. Nebraska did the same thing.

Texas is the only other state that has irradiated meat in its school lunch programs.

According to the USDA Web site, irradiated beef can cost as much as $2.50 per pound compared to the conventional beef which runs almost 75 cents less, but Feickert said he thinks schools in the area would support the move to irradiated beef if the cost was right and they were educated about the product.

"It's like anything else - if you don't really know about it, you question it," he said.

Maria Tussing, communications director with the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association, said her organization passed a resolution in 1999 supporting irradiation.

The resolution also encouraged more education about irradiation to inform consumers, food service groups, retailers and producers about its benefits.

Feickert said he's had an advantage others haven't when becoming educated about irradiated meat. His daughter, Rebecca Rink, is a veterinarian in Huron and is familiar with all the benefits of irradiated meat.

"She's telling me how safe it is all the time," he said. "Personally, I support it. I might just be a minority in this part of the country."

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