Editorial: Creating an illusion

Friday, Nov. 16, 2007 | 7:23 a.m.

Congressional investigators testified at a House hearing this week that in 2004 the Agriculture Department approved a carbon monoxide method that helps old meat retain a red color, despite concerns that such a method could mask spoilage.

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee, since June have been inquiring about the process of treating meat with carbon monoxide gas. The gas can allow old meat - even meat more than two years old - to retain its color and appear fresh, the lawmakers said.

At a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing Tuesday, the lawmakers said meat-producing companies Cargill and Hormel used their own scientists to test the carbon monoxide method in 2004 in hope of persuading federal regulators to bypass the public approval process.

The tests produced conflicting results, causing the companies' researchers to question - in confidential communications among themselves - the safety of the treatments.

Agriculture Department scientists didn't question the data's inconsistencies and reversed the department's previous opposition to such treatments, Stupak said.

Officials from Cargill and Hormel testified Tuesday that their carbon monoxide-treated meats would now carry stickers saying that "color is not an indicator of freshness."

In recent weeks, Tyson Foods has said it will no longer use the method, The Washington Post reports, and several large grocers have stopped carrying gassed meat. Retail giant Target has asked the Agriculture Department for permission to use labels that identify meat as being treated with carbon monoxide and that warn consumers not to rely on color or the "use by" or "freeze by" dates to determine freshness.

Dingell and Stupak introduced legislation this year that would require all gassed meats to carry such labels.

Still, if consumers are not to trust meat's color or its label dates, what should they use to judge its freshness - a crystal ball? Federal regulators should not allow the use of this gassing process at all. American consumers have a right to know exactly what they are buying and to expect that the meat they eat is safe.