|
E.U. food-safety team takes P.R.T. tour in U.S.
Source of Article: http://www.meatnews.com/news/headline_stories.asp?ArticleID=99628
|
(MEATPOULTRY.com, January 29, 2009)
by MEAT&POULTRY Staff
|
|
|
DENVER – This week the U.S. Meat Export
Federation is hosting officials from the European Union’s meat industry on a
four-day tour focusing on pathogen-reduction technologies (PRTs) in hopes these technologies will someday be used
throughout the EU.
"Our primary objective is to
provide these industry leaders with a first-hand look at how these
advancements in PRTs really provide a significant
benefit to our consumers, and can do the same for their consumers," said
Paul Clayton, USMEF senior vice president of export services.
"Certainly, we want to put these trade barriers behind us, but it’s also
important to improve our trading partners’ understanding of how these
technologies work and why they are so effective in reducing pathogens."
PRTs have been embraced by the U.S. meat
industry for many years to enhance meat safety. However, a lack of global
understanding of PRTs has created trade barriers in
some markets, including the EU. So, the tour is providing key European
food-safety officials with an up-close look at PRTs
and how they are used by the U.S.
meat industry.
On Jan. 26, the EU team stopped first
at Colorado State
University in Fort Collins, Colo.,
where leading meat industry researchers discussed PRT applications and
hide-on cleaning and their role in the safety of beef and pork products.
Next, the group visited Birko Corporation in Henderson, Colo.,
for a presentation on the composition and manufacturing of PRT compounds.
On Jan. 27 the team visited the U.S. headquarters of JBS S.A. in Greeley,
Colo., to tour the company’s
beef-processing plant and lab facility. EU officials examined the application
of PRTs and hide-on cleaning systems. The team then
traveled to Marshalltown,
Iowa, on Jan. 28 to tour a JBS
pork processing plant and lab facility.
On Jan. 29, the team is visiting Iowa State
University in Ames, Iowa,
where the focus will be on meat irradiation advances. Leading researchers at
the university will address common misconceptions about irradiation, as well
as the promise the technology holds for improving food safety.
It is hoped the group’s findings
during this tour will help the United States to gain EU acceptance of PRT
use, plus expand the global understanding of the benefits provided by these
technologies, said John Brook, USMEF regional director for Europe and the
Middle East.
"If the request to use these
technologies is coming solely from the United States, it’s not going to
go anywhere," Mr. Brook added. "There must be active interest on
the part of the EU if we are going to be successful in that effort."
|
