Irradiated Ground Beef - Time for a Comeback?


When the government approved the irradiation of raw beef three years ago to kill E. coli and other dangerous bacteria that might be lurking, a few stores tried selling it - then pulled back. People still wrongly perceived irradiated foods as radioactive and therefore unsafe. That was despite the fact that spices in the US have been irradiated for decades, as have milk cartons, teething rings and contact lenses.

Today, supermarkets feel the timing might be better for irradiated beef, particularly ground beef, now that more and more ground meat is being found contaminated with harmful microorganisms that can kill people if not cooked to a high enough temperature. Stores across the nation are beginning to stock it.

Is it safe? A resounding "Yes!" - beyond a shadow of a doubt, in fact. Irradiated foods are no more radioactive than your luggage after it is scanned at the airport. Yes, the food is exposed to low doses of radiation to keep harmful bacteria from multiplying. However, the rays pass through the food; they do not hang around.

In regard to fears that an irradiation plant can cause a nuclear explosion, they are also unfounded. Food irradiation plants use much lower levels of energy and generate far less heat than a nuclear power plant. They simply cannot cause an atom to fissure and create a nuclear disaster. Granted, there is always the remote chance of an accident in transporting radioactive materials to or from a radiation facility. But even that is becoming less of a concern. Technology now allows irradiation to occur in food as a result of bombardment with electricity rather than via exposure to radioactive compounds, such as cobalt 60 or cesium 137. Some facilities are already using electricity.

Should you choose irradiated ground beef? Irradiated ground beef costs up to 20 cents a pound more than non-irradiated. But if you love your burgers rare or you do not use a meat thermometer to make sure your ground beef is cooked to an internal temperature of 160-degrees, at which point the offensive bacteria are killed, it's worth the price. Even more so worthy of the price if there are elderly people in your home, young children, or middle-aged adults who are ill and therefore have compromised immune systems. Far better to spend that extra 20-cents a pound, than risk infecting people with microorganisms that could make them severely ill - or worse.

Until such a time as meat packing plants become more hygienic, it is better to make sure your beef comes to you "zapped". Ground beef, in particular, has the potential to cause harm because during the grinding process, bacteria from the surface of the meat can make their way deep into the middle, where they are less likely to be exposed to temperatures high enough to kill them.