What’s cooking?

That question is hard to answer if you’re not doing the cooking yourself.

In the e-Alert “Happy Meal” I told you about the recent Consumers Report magazine test of irradiated meat that revealed the unfortunate fact that tainted ground beef (that would normally be discarded) can be irradiated and shipped to restaurants and grocery markets where it will no doubt be touted as “fresh!”

At the grocery, this is no problem because all irradiated product labels carry this phrase: “Treated by irradiation (or with radiation).” Also, the label must show the irradiation symbol, called the “radura,” that resembles a flower inside a circle (a visual euphemism if I’ve ever seen one). So if you’re avoiding irradiated products, you at least have a fighting chance when you’re shopping in your grocer’s meat section.

But what about your friendly neighborhood restaurant? When your waiter tells you about tonight’s specials, don’t expect him to mention that the burgers are “treated by irradiation (or with radiation).”

In the e-Alert “McMedicine” (6/25/03) I told you about some of the problems associated with the use of antibiotics in cattle and poultry intended for human consumption. And fortunately I was able to find an online list of restaurants that refuse to buy meat from suppliers that use antibiotics to unnaturally hype the growth of farm animals.

Now I’ve found a similar list for irradiated ground beef. This list, however, only mentions retailers and restaurants that DO carry irradiated ground beef. It’s maintained by the Minnesota Beef Council, a beef industry research and promotional group, and can be found online at mnbeef.org/restaurants_and_retailers.htm.

So far, there appear to be only two chains that have signed on for irradiation: more than 100 Dairy Queens in Minnesota and South Dakota, and a family-owned chain called Embers America, with 65 restaurants in four Midwestern states.

It would be nice if the list didn’t grow beyond these two chains. But the age of irradiation is brand new, so I’m afraid that may be too much to hope for.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute

Sources:
“Updated List of Restaurants and Retailers Marketing Irradiated Ground Beef” mnbeef.org/restaurants_and_retailers.htm