July 3, 2007

US meat processors warned on using carbon monoxide on meat products

US lawmakers are demanding meat packers and meat stores to respond on the increasing public health concerns on meat treated with carbon monoxide.

Representatives John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Bart Stupak (D-MI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, through a letter, have questioned Safeway Stores, Tyson Foods, Pactiv Corporation and Precept Foods LLC (Hormel Foods Corporation/Cargill Incorporated) on the use of carbon monoxide which artificially colours the meat and conceals spoilage.

Safeway Stores, Inc. is the largest, and one of the few, grocery chains that sells meat packed in carbon monoxide.

Carbon monoxide treated products have been on the market shelves with an approval from the

Food and Drug Administration through the process called "Generally Recognized as Safe" (GRAS). GRAS products, by FDA standards, are approved without pre-market review as they have proven to be sufficiently safe.

The Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats also raised concerns about the dangers carbon monoxide packaging poses to the public health, particularly the elderly last year. In letters dated February 9, 2006, and March 30, 2006, the committee requested that the US Department of Health and Human Services and the FDA to remove products treated with carbon monoxide from markets until the safety of these products could be assessed. These requests were ignored.

Noting that the Committee would be opening an investigation into the FDA's GRAS approval process, Stupak said the FDA should not "continue stonewalling" the American consumers as the committee's discovery of carbon monoxide-treated fish from China and other Asian countries are rejected for spoilage by the FDA.