Elliotte Bowerman of Lean Trimmings reports that the nation’s largest grocery chain – including Fred Meyer, QFC, Fry’s, Smith’s and Ralph’s stores – announced last Tuesday that it will no longer carry ground beef products packaged with carbon monoxide (CO). The decision resulted from uncertainty over the benefits and detriments of using the gas, which the FDA has approved since 1980.
“We just didn’t have enough information to feel like it had to be in our meat,” a Fred Meyer spokeswoman told The Oregonian.
Kalsec Foods, a Michigan maker of natural food extracts, petitioned the FDA to ban the use of CO, saying the color preservative deceives consumers. Kalsec has raised questions about the use of CO, even at minute amounts, in its effort to capture market share for its packaging technology.