Attn: Food editors

            A report released yesterday (April 3) by a Washington-based consumer watchdog group provides fresh details about a food industry practice that extends the fresh appearance of raw meat and fish long after they’ve turned rotten.

            Meat and fish generally keep their fresh appearance for about 10 to 12 days before they start changing to a brown color, and shoppers often rely on color to judge the freshness of meat and fish packages they select from their grocer’s refrigeration cases. But a blast of carbon monoxide will arrest the oxidation process and keep the fresh appearance of meat and fish for several extra weeks. The practice helps the meat and fish packing industries reduce their losses from spoilage, but it leaves consumers exposed to possibly dangerously contaminated foods.

            Injecting carbon monoxide into meat and fish packages is legal and the industry is not required to warn consumers about the practice. At least four times in recent years, reports Food & Water Watch in Carbon Monoxide: Masking the truth about meat, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration has granted GRAS (“generally recognized as safe”) status to the practice.

            GRAS rulings, the report says, have been issued to Hawaii International Seafood Inc. (for raw tuna); Pactiv Corp., a $3.3 billion company that manufactures meat and fish packaging containers and packaging machinery; Precept Foods LLC, a joint venture between Hormel Foods Corp. and Cargill Meat Solutions Corp.; and Tyson Foods Inc., the Little Rock, Ark.-based food conglomerate.

            Cargill CEO Gregory Page defended the practice to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, saying it would be confusing and pointless to put a warning label on meat and fish packages that have been treated with carbon monoxide. “I don’t think people want to be distracted by information that’s not helpful to their purchasing decisions,” he said.

            But at a congressional hearing last November, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said “the sole purpose of carbon monoxide packaging is to fool consumers into believing that the meat and fish they buy is fresh, no matter how old it is and no matter  how decayed it might be.”

            GRAS rulings are issued through a regulatory procedure that was proposed by the FDA in 1997 but was never formally promulgated. Companies seek GRAS designations under the proposed regulation that makes no provision for public notices, hearings or comments. Thus, there is no opportunity for public participation—or even notice—in the process.

– Edward Zuckerman, Editor

Attn: Education reporters

            Writing skills among 8th and 12th graders have improved, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said yesterday (April 3), announcing the latest No Child Left Behind report card.

            Average writing test scores were higher in 2007 than they were in the previous 2002 and 1998 assessments, leading Secy. Spellings to state: “Writing scores for 8th and 12th graders are at historic highs.”  See press release. See full report.

            But the report card didn’t impress the Washington-based Alliance for Excellent Education whose president, ex-West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, noted that 68% of the 12th grade students did not write at their grade level. It means, Wise said, “they don’t have the writing skills they need to succeed.” See press release.

Attn: Assignment Editors

Center for Political Accountability: Shareholders call information giant McGraw-Hill “hypocritical” for blocking political disclosure resolution

The Campaign Finance Institute: Section 527 political committees are getting a fast start on raising funds for the 2008 elections