Schools Seem in No Hurry to Buy Irradiated Beef

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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/08/dining/08BEEF.html?th

 

October 8, 2003Schools Seem in No Hurry to Buy Irradiated BeefBy MARIAN BURROS

 

ARE irradiated hamburgers coming to your child's school cafeteria next year?

 

Last spring the federal Department of Agriculture told schools that starting in

January they could buy ground beef that had been irradiated to kill bacteria and

prevent contamination outbreaks.

 

But telephone interviews with officials in 56 school districts around the

country found few takers so far. Thirty-four of the officials said they had no

plans to serve irradiated beef in their school lunch programs, 4 said they would

definitely not use it, 13 said they had not yet decided and 5 would not comment.

None said they were going to buy it.

 

The government has said that irradiation is a responsible way to prevent

contamination by E. coli 0157:H7, listeria and other dangerous bacteria. But

critics have said that not enough studies have been done to prove irradiated

beef's safety; that in fact some studies have shown that it may promote cancer

and that it should not be given to children until the concerns are met.

 

Most school officials interviewed said either that contamination was not enough

of a problem for them to consider irradiation or that they needed to know a lot

more about irradiated beef before using it. The extra cost — an estimated 13 to

20 cents per pound more than regular beef — was another issue cited.

 

Like many districts, New York City uses precooked hamburgers. Margie Feinberg, a

spokeswoman for the city's school food service, said that that avoids the need

for irradiation. Many districts around the country are also giving more training

to their cafeteria workers in food preparation, storage and sanitation to

prevent contamination.

 

New York State will survey school districts next spring and give them the option

of ordering irradiated beef. " Everyone is still in a learning curve, " said Jim

Walls, director of the division of government-donated foods in the state's

office of general services. " We are trying to provide them with information. "

 

Of 17 states surveyed, Alabama, Iowa, Missouri and Nevada said they would not

offer irradiated ground beef to school districts. California, Maine, Minnesota

and Virginia plan to offer it. The remainder, including New York, Connecticut

and New Jersey, said it would be made available if schools asked for it.

 

Kathy F. Kuser, director of the division of food and nutrition for the New

Jersey agriculture department, said that very few of the state's school

officials have responded to a survey in August about whether they would order

irradiated beef and that she knew of none who said they would.

 

" Probably it's such a new concept people want to feel more comfortable and want

to know more about it, " Ms. Kuser said. Reflecting the responses from all of the

local districts contacted, she added: " We need input from the parents at the

local level. "

 

In Connecticut, most officials who were interviewed said they would decide after

a food service directors' meeting later this month, at which the topic would be

discussed. Cindy Brooks, director of school food services in Seymour, a small

town outside New Haven, said that the increased cost would be a factor and that

she thought an education campaign was needed.

 

" We've had a few calls from parents who said their kids would brown bag it if we

serve irradiated meat, " she said. In Greenwich, where the hamburgers are

precooked, John Hopkins, director of school food services, said the schools are

not likely to use it because of the controversy.

 

Unlike most school officials, those in Marshall, Mich., have had experience with

food contamination. In 1997, well over 300 people in Marshall and elsewhere in

Calhoun County were treated for hepatitis A contracted from strawberries served

in the schools. It was one of 195 outbreaks of food poisoning at schools in the

1990's, according to a survey by the General Accounting Office.

 

But the experience has not persuaded Marshall's food service director, Kay

Davis, to order irradiated beef. " I don't think we should be feeding children

something when we don't know the consequences, " Ms. Davis said.

 

Others questioned whether irradiation was even needed.

 

" If the meat gets to the point where it must be irradiated, then I want to be

questioning why we're giving the meat to them at all, " said Dr. Robert Ervin,

the superintendent of the Bangor, Me., school district.

 

Dr. Norman Thomas, executive director of school services in Atlanta, said

irradiated beef had been discussed at PTA meetings, but there were no plans to

buy it.

 

" Essentially what we were saying is, if it were not necessary to even deal with

it, not to deal with it, " Dr. Thomas said.

 

Julie Korenstein, a member of the Los Angeles school board, introduced a

resolution that the board passed last month banning all irradiated foods from

schools for five years. " I was not particularly enamored of using 750,000

children as guinea pigs, " she said. " Some studies suggest that irradiation may

have a negative impact on vitamins, and there's a question about whether

irradiation may create carcinogenic properties. "

 

Aware of the uphill battle for acceptance food irradiation has always faced, the

Agriculture Department sent a letter and information brochure to school

superintendents in the spring urging them to " engage in an educational effort on

food irradiation before ordering irradiated product. " The brochure offered

assurance about the safety of irradiation and noted that it had been endorsed by

several health organizations, including the Food and Drug Administration and the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It said irradiation " can increase

the safety of the food supply and help protect consumers from food-borne

illness, " but it also said that it was not a substitute for good sanitation or

safe food handling. It explained that food still had to be cooked and that even

when irradiated it could contaminate other food.

 

Another brochure was produced as part of a pilot education program last spring

in three Minnesota school districts. That program was not without problems.

 

After reading the educational material created by the Minnesota Department of

Children, Families and Learning in cooperation with the Agriculture Department,

one of the districts in the program, Sauk Rapids-Rice, dropped out, saying the

material was more promotional than educational.

 

" We felt we would look more like an advocate of irradiation than we felt we

should, " said Gary Kawlewski, business manager for Sauk Rapids-Rice, a

blue-collar district in central Minnesota.

 

Jim Amundson, chairman of the school board in Spring Lake Park, an upper middle

class suburb north of Minneapolis, said he was sorry his district participated

because it caused so much controversy. " People accused us of using their

children as guinea pigs, " Mr. Amundson said.

 

But Kathy Leedom, superintendent of the Willmar public school district, in a

rural working class community, said the information was " very fair and

balanced. "

 

While Minnesota is one of the four states that intend to offer irradiated ground

beef, none of the districts that participated in the pilot are planning to buy

it.

 

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

 

 

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