Irradiated beef goes further
reticence regarding irradiated food products, the US is forging
ahead with the announcement this week from a leading food supplier
that it has introduced a new product category - Irradiated Ground
Beef Products.
While the European consumer continues to display a distinct reticence regarding irradiated food products, the US is forging ahead with the announcement this week from a leading food supplier that it has introduced a new product category - Irradiated Ground Beef Products.
The US company Performance Food Group (PFG) will partner with irradiation technology company SureBeam to be the first major foodservice distributor to market a strategic brand of irradiated ground beef products to foodservice operators in certain regions in the US.
The Surebeam technology for irradiated food products - endorsed by the FDA and the USDA among others - aims to eliminate harmful bacteria such as E. coli, listeria, and salmonella through electronic irradiation, a process that uses ordinary electricity. The company claims that the quality, taste and nutrition are maintained throughout the process.
Initially, Performance Food Group will launch a line of ten products, including 100 per cent pure ground beef patties, 100 per cent USDA Black Angus ground beef patties, and 100 per cent pure bulk ground beef.
"Being the first foodservice distributor to private label these products provides PFG with a huge opportunity to differentiate ourselves from our competition," said Steven Spinner, broadline president of Performance Food Group.
Irradiation, used to prolong the shelf life of food products and/or to reduce health hazards, is a physical treatment of food with high-energy, ionising radiation. Although an accepted manufacturing process in the USA, the European consumer continues to remain cynical. Currently, in Europe each country has its own recommendations for the application of irradiation on foods. These vary greatly from country to country, the most liberal being France and Belgium where a variety of foods, including frog's legs and de-boned chicken, can be treated with irradiation. In other countries, such as the UK and Germany, only dried herbs, spices and vegetable seasoning can be treated.
The future of food irradiation in Europe lies in the hands of the European Commission, which is the only legislator in Europe with the power to approve new food categories for irradiation. The only food category it currently lists as suitable for treatment throughout the European Union is dried herbs, spices and vegetables.
