Irradiated Fresh Ground Beef Selling Out at Participating Retailers.

Irradiated fresh ground beef, first made available last month through a partnership between Food Technology Service Inc. and Colorado Boxed Beef Company (CBBC), has sold out in several Florida retail outlets. One Florida retailer that has experienced strong sales, conducted product-tasting, other in-store promotions, and local advertising over the Independence Day holiday weekend, which contributed to positive customer reaction to CBBCs New Generation brand of irradiated product. Store owners report that consumers are buying the product because they want the dual health benefit: a 90 percent lean, premium quality product with an extra measure of protection against foodborne pathogens.

Several retailers that has been experiencing strong sales due to product-tasting, other in-store promotions, and local advertising over the July 4th holiday weekend, which contributed to the positive customer reaction to the branded irradiated meat product.

Irradiation is a process similar to pasteurization which uses ionizing energy to eliminate bacteria in food, such as E. coli, listeria and salmonella. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, foodborne illness affects more than 76 million Americans annually, resulting in 5,000 deaths. Customers can identify fresh irradiated ground beef by the international symbol for irradiation (the radura, a green flower inside a broken circle) which is increasingly becoming recognized as a symbol for food safety.

The meat processor has added irradiated IQF chicken breasts and tenders, frozen irradiated ground beef in two-pound patty boxes, fresh irradiated ground beef in one-pound case-ready trays with a 10-day shelf life. CBBC estimates that the irradiated items, defined as a niche product line, ultimately will comprise only as much as 8 to 10 percent of its ground beef business.

To irradiate their product CBBC employs Food Technology Service, the first dedicated commercial food irradiator in the nation and also the irradiator of food consumed in space by NASA astronauts.