Safeway to no longer Sell Artifically Red Meat

Consumers everywhere achieved a victory a few weeks ago when Safeway announced that it would pull carbon monoxide (CO) treated meat from its shelves. GAP Food & Drug Safety Officer Jacqueline Ostfeld wrote an op-ed about the victory that appeared in several outlets nationwide.

The use of CO in prepackaged meat is a deceptive practice which keeps meat looking red and fresh long after it spoils. In July, responding to relentless pressure from food safety advocates, including GAP, and a request made by two powerful Michigan Democratic Representatives (John Dingell and Bart Stupak), Safeway decided to bar sales of the gassed meat.

Cargill, Tyson and Hormel, among others, have been injecting meat with CO in order to recoup the $1 billion annually (10 percent of earnings) lost when consumers refuse to buy meat that has begun to brown and spoil. A poll by the Consumer Federation of America shows that 78 percent of Americans think this technology is deceptive. The meat industry attempts to justify its use of the gas by claiming that the sell-by date is the most important indicator of freshness. However, if meat is exposed to temperatures above 40°, it may begin to spoil before the sell-by date. Most people judge meat’s freshness by its color – it is only after consumers think their meat is starting to look a little funky that they call on their sense of smell to be the final arbiter of freshness. Besides, the very consumers who are less likely to be able to read the often tiny print of the sell-by date are the same as those who may have trouble smelling the meat – senior citizens and people with disabilities.

Despite media coverage and relentless pressure from consumer groups and Congress, the federal food agencies (FDA and USDA) themselves have failed to act. On April 28, 2004, the USDA's food safety division recommended the prohibition of CO in meat packaging due to concern that the gas would mask spoilage and delude consumers. Over the next month, the agency met twice with industry officials, leading to the decision to sanction the technology for case-ready meat. GAP is investigating how and why this reversal took place. The evidence points to fast-tracking: using only industry data that did not include meat samples, pictures, or studies of meat, and that lacked studies of consumer behavior. This kind of unbalanced, closed process poses a serious threat to food safety.