Canada has launched a 75-day consultation period opened to the general public on 17 June, which will officially end on 1 September.
The proposal from the federal ministry Health Canada would allow meat producers and packagers to irradiate ground beef. There would be mandatory labelling requirements for producers that choose to use the technology.
Currently, irradiation has already been approved in Canada to treat potatoes, onions, wheat, flour, spices and seasoning preparations, but no meat products, according to Maryse Durette, senior media relations advisor with Health Canada. “The use of radiation would be another tool for meat packers, meat plants and butcheries to implement in their facilities if they want,” said Durette.
No timeline set
Under the proposed rule, plants that use radiation will have place a ‘Radura’ label on their product packaging – an international symbol indicating that a food product has been irradiated. It is usually green and resembles a plant in circle.
Once the public consultations end, Durette said the comments would be collected and analysed. However, there is no timeline yet for when irradiated beef could be approved or seen in Canadian stores.
Health Canada maintained that ground beef treated with irradiation was safe to eat and retained its nutritional value, taste, texture and appearance. And the country’s meat industry has also been vocal of its support for irradiation.
Pathogen defence
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) director of technical services Mark Klassen said his organisation had originally requested that the Canadian government approve irradiation for ground beef in 1998, but the proposal that was quickly shot down by consumer groups at the time. “We have continued to pursue approval in Canada since that time because we believe that Canadian consumers should have the choice to purchase irradiated ground beef,” he said.
A Canadian Meat Council (CMC) statement said: “Irradiation offers a well-researched, safe, internationally accepted, and long proven optional methodology for further reducing the potential presence of harmful pathogens in meat…. Canada’s meat industry supports Health Canada’s approval of this safe, efficacious, and long-awaited technology for meat products, including fresh and frozen ground beef.”
Even consumer groups seem to have warmed up to the idea. Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC), stated: “We’re not in favour of any compulsory action for producers, but we fully believe irradiation for beef should be made available to those who want to use it and be labelled as such. It has been proven safe, and there are no threats from it at all, so the quicker the government makes it available, the better.”