Negli USA hamburgers "irradiati" per renderli più sicuri.
Ma siamo sicuri? (25/02/2000)

La buona notizia è questa: pare eliminato il rischio di Eschirichia coli 0157:H7 ed altri pericolosi patogeni dagli hamburgers negli USA.
La cattiva notizia è questa: il risultato è ottenuto "irradiando" la carne con cui sono fatti. Fresca o congelata.
La "pastorizzazione fredda" del manzo ha finalmente avuto l'approvazione federale. L'importante, secondo la società che usa questa tecnica, è tranquillizzare i consumatori sulla "sanità" del prodotto, che potrà essere cotto meno e quindi più gradito a molti.

Ci asteniamo da qualsiasi commento riservandoci di tornare quanto prima sul tema dell'uso dell'irradiamento per migliorare la conservazione e l'igiene dei cibi. Anche in Europa.

Qui sotto il testo originale e l'indirizzo di provenienza.

Fonte: http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/riskcomm/ ,
ecco il pezzo completo:

IRADIATED BEEF DEBUTS TODAY
February 22, 2000
Agweb.com
Candace Krebs
http://www.agweb.com/news/news.cfm?id=2244
Cold-pasteurized beef finally gets federal approval. Sometime between 7 a.m.-7:45 a.m. this morning on CBS' The Early Show, TV reporter Herb Weisbaum, according to this story, plans to sink his teeth into a hamburger that will have been irradiated to kill Escherichia coli O157:H7 and other dangerous food pathogens, and he will be telling viewers about the new process. Approval of irradiation in fresh and frozen meat products goes into affect today, February 22.
Titan Scan Corp., San Diego, Ca., which operates the country's first fully operational electron-beam food irradiation facility, provided the treated hamburgers to CBS. "We will be processing meat at our facility, and we expect our customers will have meat in test markets by the beginning of March," says Ralph "Wil" Williams, vice president of corporate communications for Titan Scan. The plant at Souix City, Iowa, serves as an outsourcing facility for companies such as IBP and Cargill's Excel.
Lynn Kosty, associate director of food policy for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, was quoted as saying, "Ground beef is our number one selling product in America. If we could eliminate the pathogens in the interior of the product, before it ever gets in consumer hands, they could cook the product less and enjoy it more. We will still encourage consumers to cook it to 160 degrees, but some people are willing to take that risk. If we can improve their margin of safety that is a wonderful thing for the industry."
NCBA supported irradiation during the seven-year approval process and collaborated with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on an educational brochure. "I think this is a boost to consumer confidence. If you can increase that, you will surely have a greater demand for your product," Kosty adds.