It's touted as a bacteria-zapping technology that helps make ground beef safe, but Milwaukee area consumers have not embraced irradiation in the year since an E. coli outbreak sickened dozens and led to the death of a 3-year-old South Milwaukee girl.
In fact, interest in the so-called "safer" meat is virtually non-existent in the Milwaukee area, even during the summer grilling season, when raw ground beef is flying out of supermarkets.
Pick 'n Save supermarkets saw such little demand that they stopped offering frozen ground beef patties treated with irradiation, a system approved by the federal government last year that uses an electrically generated beam to kill harmful bacteria, thus reducing the risk of food-borne illnesses.
Sentry Food Stores still carry irradiated frozen patties "out of a sense of responsibility to provide it to customers if they want it," said Ken Miller, meat sales manager for Fleming Cos., the wholesaler for Sentry.
"People will come to realize it's a good thing, not a bad thing," Miller said Friday. "It will evolve over time with education."
Meanwhile, the beef packer that supplied the contaminated meat linked to last July's E. coli outbreak at two Milwaukee area Sizzler restaurants, Excel Corp., is installing an irradiation system in two of its largest plants - but not in the Colorado plant where the meat supplied to the Sizzlers originated.
"Excel is committed to using the best tools to deliver food safety to our customers and consumers," said Bill Rupp, Excel's executive vice president, North American Beef business unit.
Excel recently announced plans to acquire a Milwaukee-based beef packer, Emmpak Foods Inc., which stopped contracting for irradiation technology a few months ago. Emmpak was one of two suppliers of irradiated frozen hamburger patties sold at Pick 'n Save supermarkets, which began test-marketing them a year ago.
"There's been absolutely no customer acceptance," said David Busch, spokesman for Roundy's Inc., the City of Pewaukee-based grocery wholesaler that owns and franchises Pick 'n Save supermarkets in Wisconsin.
source: http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/jul01/ecolsid27072601a.asp 10sep01
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