Carbon monoxide keeps meat red longer; is that good?
Source of Article: http://www.usatoday.com/ By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY A small company in Kalamazoo, Mich., has the meat industry on the run over how the meat you buy is packaged. Kalsec has waged a two-year fight and spent $800,000 to battle food regulators and meat producers over a fledgling practice of packaging fresh meat with a harmless dose of carbon monoxide. The gas keeps meat an appealing red for more than 20 days ? about twice as long as other popular packaging and far longer than the few days unwrapped meat stays red in a butcher’s case. The red color is the problem, say Kalsec, consumer groups and several lawmakers. The gas not only keeps meat red while on the shelf but after it’s spoiled. They say consumers ? who consider color when picking meat ? will be fooled into buying spoiled or old meat and not smell trouble until they open the package at home. The packaging presents “serious consumer deception and food-safety risks,” Kalsec says in a filing to the Food and Drug Adm
