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December 15, 1999
Web posted at: 10:32 a.m. EST (1532 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved irradiation technology for meat, the agency announced Tuesday.

Irradiation is a type of pasteurization that kills many deadly bacteria like E.coli 0157:H7 and other potentially deadly microorganisms.

The process exposes food to high levels of radiant energy -- similar to a microwave -- reducing or eliminating organisms on meat and poultry.

"While there is no single silver bullet to cure all food safety problems, irradiation has been shown to be both safe and effective," said Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. "USDA is committed to approving new technologies that offer industry additional tools to help produce even safer food."

The USDA's approval will be submitted in the Federal Register next week and will take effect 60 days after publication.

Irradiated products must still meet all other food safety requirements, including sanitation and pathogen reduction standards. The USDA recommends that consumers continue following safe handling practices with irradiated meat as they would with all other meat and poultry, because bacteria from other foods can cross-contaminate irradiated foods.

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The USDA will require irradiated meat and meat products bear the "radura" international symbol for irradiation on labeling, including a statement that the product was treated by irradiation. For unpackaged meat products that do not have labels, the statement and logo must be displayed at the point of sale to consumers.

The labeling will not be required for products purchased through food service operations such as restaurants.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which approves food additives such as irradiation, determined in December 1997 that irradiation of raw meat is safe.