You may not know this, but the meat industry is secretly 'gassing' packages of beef with carbon monoxide. Why? Why does any industry do something secretly... to make more profits!

If there were any doubt that the food industry and the govt. were lying to you and me about the ingredients they put in our food, then that should be forever dispelled with this piece of information. For those of us who care about our health and the health of our families, and our unborn children this should interest you.

The use of carbon monoxide in fresh meat causes a chemical reaction that creates a substance that makes the meat 'appear' red and fresh beyond the time it is safe to eat. Because consumers use appearance as the principal indicator of freshness, this is a serious issue of deception and food safety. The CO gas helps meat keep its bright red color for up to 5 months! There is no way for you to know which packages have been 'gassed' because the government doesn't force companies to tell you, imagine that. But make no mistake about it, Carbon Monoxide is a poison. So, with this practice the meat industry is poisoning our food just so that they can make more money, and we buy meat that looks fresh, but who knows how long it has been sitting there waiting to be bought. They are putting a deadly chemical gas in the food and you and your family are consuming it. The process is a fraudulent practice because it deceives shoppers who depend on color as a sign of freshness. As shown in the picture below, after you 'gas' the meat it has a chemical reaction which turns the meat red and it appears to be fresh, even if it isn't. In fact even if the meat has already expired it will still 'appear' to be fresh.

In March an investigative team went into local grocery stores and bought gas-treated packages of meat, veal, and pork. One butcher said, "All this stuff is gas flushed." The investigative team asked, "Would you eat it? The butcher responded by saying, "No, I always try to stay away from it. I always try to get the fresh stuff, the fresh cut stuff."

The investigative team compared untreated and treated packages of ground chuck. Both sell-by dates indicated the samples were fresh. After a few days, meat in the untreated package started to turn brown. After five days, it actually appeared to be rotting. But the beef in the 'gas' filled package still 'looked' ruby red. In fact, the CO treated meat looked almost as red on day 49 as it did on day one. Imagine, meat that looks pink after a month and a half?

Don Berdahl is a scientist with Kalsec, a food extract company petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to ban the CO process. Berdahl said, "We think there is a serious deception issue." Indeed, many countries have already BANNED the deceptive practice, but not the U.S.

Berdahl admits competitive motives, but he also raises safety concerns. He points out, "How can our government say it's generally recognized as safe, when the rest of the world says it's generally recognized as unsafe?" The European Union banned the use of carbon monoxide in all meat and fish packaging, concluding that it exposes consumers to unsafe meat.

Schnucks, Aldi, and Shop 'N Save sell a small percentage of beef, veal, or pork with the carbon monoxide packages. In March, four congressmen asked the FDA to ban the use of CO packaging. At the very least, the congressmen asked the FDA to begin an aggressive advertising campaign to let consumers know that when it comes to picking fresh meat, they can't rely on eyesight alone. Other consumer watchdog groups are calling on the government to require labeling of these gas flushed packages.

The FDA has not responded.