Opening the Market for Safer Foods, the Irradiation Story By: Ronald F. Eustice

History was made in May 2000 when Sauk Rapids, MN-based Huisken Meats of Sauk Rapids, MN became the first ground beef processor in the nation to use electricity to combat the threat of foodborne pathogens such as E. Coli O157:H7. From an initial distribution in 84 stores in the Twin Cities area, the availability of Huisken's irradiated products quickly grew to include thousands of supermarkets in 30 states.

Minnesota-based International Dairy Queen is the first fast food chain in the nation to use electronic irradiation to ensure the safety of their hamburger patties. Currently nearly 100 Dairy Queen franchisees in Minnesota and neighboring states offer irradiated ground beef following a gradual expansion beginning with two rural Minnesota stores in February 2002.

In May 2002, Rochester, NY-based Wegmans with 64 stores in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania became the first retailer in the country to put its name on irradiated ground beef instead of simply offering a generic product. After the first 5 months of sales, Wegmans Irradiated Fresh Ground Beef accounts for 15% of all ground beef sales chainwide, according to Wegmans Communications Specialist Jeanne Colleluori.

Food irradiation is the process of exposing food products to ionizing irradiation in order to kill potentially dangerous pathogens that may be present in the product. Irradiation complements - not replaces - other food safety procedures at all points in the food system from farm to consumer. Electronic irradiation uses a simple beam of electricity to kill food pathogens. It does not change the taste or nutrition of hamburgers. Irradiation complements - not replaces - other food safety procedures at all points in the food system from farm to consumer.

Dairy Queen, Huisken Meats and Wegmans are leading a wave of food companies striving to ensure the safety and quality of their products. Minnesota-based Schwan's, the nation's distributor of premium frozen foods via home delivery-and Omaha Steaks-renowned for its premium meats-have been successfully marketing irradiated ground beef products nationally for nearly three years. Minneapolis-based W.W. Johnson Company, a private-label company reports that 10 percent of their sales are of irradiated product. They market coast to coast to foodservice through Sysco, US Foodservice, Rhinehart and Upper Lakes Foods. Excel, a division of Minnesota-based Cargill is marketing fresh irradiated ground beef through a growing number of retail chains nationwide. In September 2002, Tyson's IBP Division introduced five different irradiated ground beef products that are now being marketed by retailers nationwide. More than a dozen retailers in the East and throughout the Midwest including Lunds, Byerly's, Cub Foods and SuperValu have followed Wegmans lead by adding fresh irradiated ground beef supplied by Excel or IBP to their shelves. In December, St. Paul, MN-based Embers America became the first family style, full-service restaurant to introduce irradiated ground beef system-wide. All 65 Embers restaurants in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North and South Dakota exclusively offer irradiated patties.

Background:
The idea of irradiated foods is not new. Scientists have known for decades that exposing food to x-rays, high energy electrons, or cobalt-60 could kill deadly bacteria within it. While some consumers have been wary of irradiated foods-largely because of unfounded fear mongering hawked by activists opposing the use of nuclear energy-many irradiated products have become commonplace. Commercial spices used as ingredients in ready-to-eat foods, for example, have been irradiated for over a decade to kill pests and other contaminants. Of course, the real pioneers are our astronauts who have been eating irradiated food since 1972.

A Time Of Concern:
Little was being done to put this proven technology with the potential to save thousands of lives and prevent millions of cases of food borne disease each year, to practical, widespread use in the US until the mid-1990's. The 'Jack In The Box incident' on the West Coast in 1993, and a gigantic beef recall in Nebraska during the summer of 1997, quickly brought food safety to the top of the beef industry's list of priorities. The largest U.S. ground beef recall in history occurred in August 1997, when a 0157:H7 contamination forced Nebraska-based Hudson Foods out of business.

Public/Private Partnerships
Michael Osterholm, then the Minnesota State Epidemiologist, contacted the Minnesota Beef Council (MBC) in fall 1997. Osterholm proposed that the MBC and his Minnesota Department of Health work together to make irradiated ground beef a commercial reality. He charged MBC with three tasks:
1. Learn more about the irradiation process;
2. Determine the existing level of support among producers, packers, retailers and the institutional trade for the commercial use;
3. Develop a strategy to educate the consumer about it.

Issues Forum:
Together with Osterholm, the Minnesota Beef Council, began the education process by developing an issues forum on food safety in November 1997. Speakers and invitees to the forum included the Minnesota producer leadership as well as high-level executives from the food industry, meat packers, retailers, food service officials and government officials. Also included were irradiation technology experts, market researchers and public health experts.

Participants at the forum learned about the history of food-borne illness, food safety and irradiation technology. The benefits and objections to irradiation were discussed. Irradiated ground beef was served for lunch, the first time it had ever been served in Minnesota. At the end of the day, there was unanimous agreement that irradiation was the way to go.

The Trail To Success:
Irradiation of beef products gained FDA approval on Dec. 5, 1997. Soon after that Minnesota Beef Council leaders traveled to Ames, IA, where they toured the nation's first commercial-size research irradiation facility located on the ISU campus. The ISU facility used radiant energy in the form of electron beams to destroy bacteria.

Samples of irradiated ground beef were brought back to Minnesota and served in early February 1998, to attendees of the Minnesota Restaurant Association trade show in Minneapolis. These were the first of more than 300,000 samples MBC staff and volunteers would distribute at food industry trade shows, women's expos and fairs over the next five years. MBC staff and members cultivated relationships with media, working in tandem with health officials to deliver a positive message. No opportunity to promote irradiation was passed up. A series of press releases and newspaper editorials were developed and distributed to all state media. After a space shuttle launch, for instance, MBC issued a press release informing consumers that the astronauts' diet consisted of irradiated food.

Minnesota Moves Forward
In June 1999, a Food Irradiation Conference was held to provide public health officials and other community leaders with information and resources to prepare their communities to welcome irradiated food as an important food safety measure. The objectives of the conference were as follows:
1. Describe the food safety problems affecting Minnesota and other parts of the country.
2. Describe the process and effects of food irradiation and how it can improve food safety.
3. Differentiate truth from myth about how food irradiation works and the benefits and limitations of this new technology.
4. Provide information about benefits and risks of food irradiation to their community.
5. Step forward as community leaders to promote food irradiation to protect public health through improved food safety.

Approximately 250 food industry officials and public health professionals attended this two-day conference, sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture which helped set the stage for the commercial introduction of irradiated ground beef eleven months later. Samples of irradiated ground beef and irradiated papaya were served to participants during the first day of the conference.

Education Is The Key To Consumer Acceptance of Irradiated Food
Consumer acceptance of irradiation as food safety measure in the aftermath of massive recalls during the summer of 2002 and anthrax terror attacks in late 2001.

Research studies have consistently shown that the key to consumer acceptance of irradiation is education. An early 1990's study at Purdue University demonstrated that once consumers understand the food irradiation process, over 90 percent are willing to purchase foods processed with irradiation. A 1998 nationwide survey found that 80 percent of consumers would purchase food labeled "irradiated to destroy harmful bacteria."

Minnesota has been the focal point as the demand for irradiated ground beef spreads nationwide because they chose to ignore the activists and presented the public with facts and solid science. "We feel we're very fortunate to be a citizen of Minnesota where education and awareness of electronic irradiated ground beef is very well known by the consumer," said Dairy Queen Vice-President Glenn Lindsey. Lindsey credits the state departments of agriculture and health and the Minnesota Beef Council for that level of awareness. The educational effort that began in Minnesota during the fall of 1997 is considered a major reason behind the successful introduction of irradiated ground beef nationwide. The Minnesota Beef Council in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Minnesota Department of Health and others put the critics on the defensive every time they came forward. No opportunity was lost to present the facts and tell consumers about the positive role that irradiation could play in stopping the spread of food borne disease in ground beef and other foods.

The "Minnesota Model" of consumer education involving product sampling, information workshops, press releases and partnerships with public and private groups is serving as a catalyst to expand the marketing of irradiated food nationwide and help make ground beef and other foods some of the safest on the consumer's dinner table.