I thought this was interesting:
http://www.newsnet5.com/consumerspec...72/detail.html

Local Grocery Stores Sell Meat Containing CO
Woman Fights For Safe Food After 2-Year-Old Dies

UPDATED: 8:26 pm EDT July 9, 2006

CLEVELAND -- The ruby red color of the meat shoppers buy may have been a
result of carbon monoxide, 5 On Your Side consumer reporter Angie Lau said.

The new process is called gas flushing. The ready-packaged meat is
vacuum-sealed with carbon monoxide and keeps meat looking fresh for longer.

Lau said it's an attempt by the meat industry to save a $1 billion worth of
meat it throws away each year, still safe to eat but off color.

Shoppers have no idea about the meat, because no one is obligated to tell
them.

When it comes to shopping for meat many people look at color before buying.

"It has to be fresh-looking red, not off-color. Sometimes it's kind of
greenish, know what i mean?" Nancy Troutman said.

In fact, Lau said that's even how the experts determine freshness.

"You go by the color for sure," said Don Whitaker at the Westside Market.

Lau said there is something grocery stores, meat producers and even the FDA
are not telling you. There is a secret process that keeps meat ruby red no
matter what it's been through or how long it's been out when it should look
brown, she reported.

NewsChannel5's consumer investigative team discovered that disguised meat
was being sold under brand names at supermarket chains in Ohio.

Barb Kowalcyk is president of Safe Tables, a national public advocacy group
that fights for safe food. She's also a mom who lost her son after he ate
meat tainted with E.coli.

"Kevin got sick late July with what my husband and I thought was a stomach
flu," Kowalcyk said.

Kevin was 2 1/2 years old.

"I will never forget when the doctor sat me and my husband down and said,
'We are sorry, but this is the worst thing that can happen to your child.
There is no treatement. There is no cure. The best we can hope for is that
we can fix everything once,'" Kowalcyk said. "He was on continued dialysis
to control his heartrate and blood pressure He had to have drain tubes
inserted in both lungs. He was on a ventilator.

For Kevin, it was all too much for his little body. He died five years ago
this month.

"Had I known then what I know now, I would have made other choices for my
son," Kowalcyk said.

Lau said some beef and steak that shoppers buy is now being packaged with
carbon monoxide. By gassing meat with just a trace amount of CO, a chemical
reaction occurs and the color of the meat turns a permanent red.

Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the U.S. Department of
Agriculture objects.

Whitaker, a butcher at Westside Market, doesn't trust CO treated meat.

"We don't sell this kind of meat here, because it keeps it red and you can't
tell whether it's fresh or not," Whitaker said.

Cargill Meats helped pioneer the use of CO in packaging meat, Lau reported.

Cargill is the same company that packages meats for Tops supermarkets.

That's where Lau found some examples. To show what carbon monoxide does, she
left the treated meat out in room temperature for 24 hours. Untreated meat
would turn brown. But the treated meat is still red.

The consumer team went shopping all across northeast Ohio to see who was
selling CO-treated meat.

Lau took the meat to Dr. Mike Setter, a chemistry professor at John Carroll
University. He tested the meat and the packaging for carbon monoxide.

Setter found the meat purchased at Tops and Giant Eagle tested positive, Lau
reported. Even Laura's lean beef sold in major stores claiming to be free of
additives tested positive.


"The lowest amount of CO was in Tops USDA cube steak. I would feel confident
to say that they exposed the meat to carbon monoxide intentionally." Setter
said.

Cleveland Public Health Director Matt Carroll said consumers shouldn't have
to worry about the meat they buy.

"We might not notice odor, so knowing the color of meat has basically been
doctored by carbon monoxide is good information for people to have," said
Carroll.

Kowalcyk is angry that consumers have been left in the dark.

"What if you don't know better? That's the danger. Why aren't they telling
us?" Kowalcyk asked.

Lau said grocery stores are not required to tell consumers if meat has been
treated with carbon monoxide. So if you want to know for sure, ask a store
manager.

In response to Lau's report, Giant Eagle said, "All of our supermarkets
follow strict safety standards to continually ensure product does not remain
on-shelf beyond the respective sell-by dates."

Tops told 5 On Your Side, "If customers purchase any product which is not
fresh, the store has a double your money back guarantee in place to give
customers a 200 percent refund."

"aem" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Knit Chic wrote:
>> [long snip]
>> In response to Lau's report, Giant Eagle said, "All of our supermarkets
>> follow strict safety standards to continually ensure product does not remain
>> on-shelf beyond the respective sell-by dates."
>>
>> Tops told 5 On Your Side, "If customers purchase any product which is not
>> fresh, the store has a double your money back guarantee in place to give
>> customers a 200 percent refund."
>
> Typical corporate answers, probably crafted by lawyers. Neither one
> answers the question, do we sell meat treated with carbon monoxide?
> -aem
>

Reminds me of the news story a while back about the store that was *bleaching* fish.
They took fish that had gone past it's date, or was returned for various reasons and
bleached it to get rid of the "fishy" smell.
I am grateful to have found a source of meat that I trust.

kimberly

In article <TUVsg.6489$5K2.3386@fed1read03>, says...
> Reminds me of the news story a while back about the store that was *bleaching* fish.
> They took fish that had gone past it's date, or was returned for various reasons and
> bleached it to get rid of the "fishy" smell.
> I am grateful to have found a source of meat that I trust.
>
>

The carbon monoxide treatment works with tuna too - makes it nice and
red forever. It's called tailpipe tuna. Barf.

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths pages at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

"Nexis" > wrote in message
news:TUVsg.6489$5K2.3386@fed1read03...
>
> "aem" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>>
>> Knit Chic wrote:
>>> [long snip]
>>> In response to Lau's report, Giant Eagle said, "All of our supermarkets
>>> follow strict safety standards to continually ensure product does not
>>> remain
>>> on-shelf beyond the respective sell-by dates."
>>>
>>> Tops told 5 On Your Side, "If customers purchase any product which is
>>> not
>>> fresh, the store has a double your money back guarantee in place to give
>>> customers a 200 percent refund."
>>
>> Typical corporate answers, probably crafted by lawyers. Neither one
>> answers the question, do we sell meat treated with carbon monoxide?
>> -aem
>>
>
> Reminds me of the news story a while back about the store that was
> *bleaching* fish. They took fish that had gone past it's date, or was
> returned for various reasons and bleached it to get rid of the "fishy"
> smell.
> I am grateful to have found a source of meat that I trust.

I knew a guy who'd been in the butcher trade for a long time, but quit, so
he was telling me stories about how things "used to be" in the business.
Like ground beef. He said that it was common practice to mix crushed ice
with the ground beef. Two reasons. One, it kept the meat looking red and
pretty longer. And two, they were selling ice at ground beef prices. He said
that when he bought ground beef "now" he'd pick up stew meat and ask for
that to be ground for him.

He also said that one place he worked at would take chicken that was getting
a little "off" and would soak it in something...I'm remembering he said
milk, but I could be very wrong about that. Then they'd take the chicken and
go sell it cheap to markets in poor neighborhoods.

So even when it was the nice old butcher guy, there were scams afoot, it
seems.

Donna

"Knit Chic" > wrote in message
...
>I thought this was interesting:
> http://www.newsnet5.com/consumerspec...72/detail.html
>
> Local Grocery Stores Sell Meat Containing CO
> Woman Fights For Safe Food After 2-Year-Old Dies


I'm sort of wondering if a person isn't exposed to more CO when sitting in
traffic. After all, when inhaled, it goes straight to the bloodstream.

Hasta,
Curt Nelson

D.Currie wrote:

>
> I knew a guy who'd been in the butcher trade for a long time, but quit, so
> he was telling me stories about how things "used to be" in the business.
> Like ground beef. He said that it was common practice to mix crushed ice
> with the ground beef. Two reasons. One, it kept the meat looking red and
> pretty longer. And two, they were selling ice at ground beef prices. He said
> that when he bought ground beef "now" he'd pick up stew meat and ask for
> that to be ground for him.
>

Common practice for a practical reason. When you grind something you
also heat it. Ice is added to keep the meat at safe temperatures.


> He also said that one place he worked at would take chicken that was getting
> a little "off" and would soak it in something...I'm remembering he said
> milk, but I could be very wrong about that. Then they'd take the chicken and
> go sell it cheap to markets in poor neighborhoods.
>

No need to go to poor neighborhoods for that anumore.... All of the
"fresh" meat and poultry at your neighborhood Walamrt has been
soaked/saturated in something.



> So even when it was the nice old butcher guy, there were scams afoot, it
> seems.
>
> Donna
>
>

On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 23:01:17 -0700, "Curt Nelson"
> wrote:

>
>"Knit Chic" > wrote in message
t...
>>I thought this was interesting:
>> http://www.newsnet5.com/consumerspec...72/detail.html
>>
>> Local Grocery Stores Sell Meat Containing CO
>> Woman Fights For Safe Food After 2-Year-Old Dies
>
>
>I'm sort of wondering if a person isn't exposed to more CO when sitting in
>traffic. After all, when inhaled, it goes straight to the bloodstream.

It's not the CO2 that's the problem... if you read the article, the
danger of it is that it artificially colours the meat and takes away
the most obvious cue that the meat is getting 'old' and might not be
good to eat. The kid died because the meat had too much e-coli in it
and the parents didn't know...

I NEVER buy 'rubyred' meat because the odds are that it's been
treated... I'd rather take my chances with natural degradation than
have it covered up for me!

"aem" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Knit Chic wrote:
> > [long snip]
> > In response to Lau's report, Giant Eagle said, "All of our supermarkets
> > follow strict safety standards to continually ensure product does not
remain
> > on-shelf beyond the respective sell-by dates."
> >
> > Tops told 5 On Your Side, "If customers purchase any product which is
not
> > fresh, the store has a double your money back guarantee in place to give
> > customers a 200 percent refund."
>
> Typical corporate answers, probably crafted by lawyers. Neither one
> answers the question, do we sell meat treated with carbon monoxide?
> -aem
>

Like the whole Food Lion scam in the South. ABC did an undercover about
Food Lion bleaching it's meat when it developed mold. Food Lion sued and
ABC had to pony up.....Food Lion never denied bleaching the meat just that
ABC did not have their express permission to expose the practice is what won
the lawsuit.
-ginny

"Curt Nelson" > wrote in
:

>
> "Knit Chic" > wrote in message
> ...
>>I thought this was interesting:
>> http://www.newsnet5.com/consumerspec...89372/detail.h
>> tml
>>
>> Local Grocery Stores Sell Meat Containing CO
>> Woman Fights For Safe Food After 2-Year-Old Dies
>
>
> I'm sort of wondering if a person isn't exposed to more CO
> when sitting in traffic. After all, when inhaled, it goes
> straight to the bloodstream.

the CO is harmless, but it keeps meat looking 'fresh' even
when it's gone bad.
however, E.Coli can be present in any meat, no matter how
fresh, just due to the slovenly standards at US meat packing
plants. color or CO presence has nothing to do with
contamination issues.
lee