Rosy but rancid?

If meat in the supermarket looks rosier than it used to, the reason is that a growing number of markets are selling meat in airtight packages treated with carbon monoxide to keep it looking red for weeks. This "modified atmosphere packaging" has become more commonplace as supermarkets eliminate in-house butchers and buy precut, case-ready meat from processing plants. "This is what's going to happen in the meat business," says John A. Catsimatidis, chief executive of Gristede's supermarkets. "The meat looks great. It looks as red as the day it was cut." And it helps retailers save money: A study conducted at Oklahoma State University in 2003 for the Cattlemen's Beef Board said retailers lose at least $1 billion a year because consumers reject meat that has turned brown from exposure to oxygen, even when it is still fresh. The carbon monoxide is harmless at the levels being used in the packaging. But opponents say that the process allows stores to sell meat that is no longer fresh, and that consumers would not know until they opened the package at home and smelled it. Labels do not indicate whether the meat has been treated with carbon monoxide.