Meat Labels - Truth And Half Truths

If you've ever gotten a package of bright red meat and checked the meat labels for the use by date, only to realize when you opened it that it smelled and tasted awful, you're not alone.

Today, many meat departments use gasses that include carbon monoxide when they package their meat. Why? The gasses allow the meat's shelf life to double if it's ground beef and more than triple if it's a whole cut of meat.

The carbon monoxide keeps the meat red, even when it's spoiled. Sometimes, their estimate of the spoilage date is wrong, as witnessed by "Consumer Reports"sampling of 10 samples from three companies. In that group of 10, all meat that looked red, two of the samples had definitely spoiled and one was almost turned.

The FDA, even though petitioned by several companies to make packaging with carbon dioxide illegal, says that the bacteria, which spoil the meat won't hurt you if it's cooked thoroughly. Of course, you still have to deal with the horrible smell and taste of the spoiled meat, but it's edible...

Of course, there's always the probability that the consumer won't thoroughly cook the meat.

Does it become the fault of the packaging or the cook? Shouldn't you expect red meat with a distant use by date to be fresh? You have to ask yourself if the addition of the gasses to create an appearance of fresh meat isn't fraudulent advertising.

There are a number of words that appear on the label of packaging. Natural is perhaps one of the most ambiguous. It has nothing to do with the way the animal grew, ate or lived before it went to market. It doesn't mean that there were no antibiotics given, it only means that the meat wasn't altered after by artificial ingredients or added color and it had only minimal processing.

In order to get meat from animals that didn't receive antibiotics or hormones, you need to look for a label that specifically states that there are no hormones in the meat.

When it comes to pork or poultry, no hormones must be followed with the words, Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones. This just means that all pork and poultry should carry this label. It's different with beef. "No hormones administered" is what to watch for on beef labels. Here, the producer of the beef must show documentation that the producer never used hormones when raising the animal. If you don't see it on the label, you're getting your daily dose of hormones with each luscious bite of steak.

"No antibiotics" is a packaging term that is only allowed when there's documentation that the red meat and poultry didn't receive antibiotics. Again, if it's not on the label, don't worry about getting a prescription filled, your eating your antibiotics at supper.

Meat containing the label "Organic" is the safest of all. It is certified that the animal received no growth hormones or antibiotics. Its food was also natural and not produced with conventional pesticides, synthetic or sewage sludge fertilizers. These animals were not bioengineered either.

Next time you go to the grocery read the labels carefully for the words organic, no antibiotics or no hormones. If you don't see it on the label, you have additional ingredients in the meat.

Don't reach for the reddest meat until you ask the butcher about the meat packaging process. The few minutes you take to read the meat labels and understand themmakes a big difference in your life.