That meat may not be as fresh as it looks Carbon monoxide packaging keeps color rosier longer
Marian Burros, New York Times
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
If some of the meat in supermarkets is looking rosier than it used to, the reason is that a growing number of markets are selling it in airtight packages treated with a touch of carbon monoxide to help the product stay red for weeks.
This form of "modified atmosphere packaging," a technique in which other gases replace oxygen, has become more widely used as supermarkets eliminate their butchers and buy precut, "case-ready" meat from processing plants.
The reason for its popularity in the industry is clear.
One study, conducted at Oklahoma State University for the Cattlemen's Beef Board in 2003, said retailers lost at least $1 billion a year as meat turned brown from exposure to oxygen, because, though it might still be fairly fresh and perfectly safe, consumers simply judged meat's freshness by its color.Anyone shocked that one of the major purveyors of bright red, but OLD meat is Wal-Mart?