The use of carbon monoxide creates an unnecessary risk of food poisoning by enabling meat and ground beef to remain fresh-looking when it may in actuality already be spoiled.
The petition, filed by KalsecInc., urged the FDA to rescind its July 2004 decision and related decisions to allow the presence of carbon monoxide in meat packaging.
The FDA accepted Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) applications meaning that the FDA conducted no independent safety investigations on its own, but instead relied on the notifiers' claims, research and documentation in considering the safety of carbon monoxide use in food.
Carbon monoxide makes meat appear fresher than it actually is by reacting with the meat pigment myoglobin to create carboxymyoglobin, a bright red pigment that masks the natural aging and spoilage of meats. Carbon monoxide- treated meats are currently being sold to consumers without informing them of the use of carbon monoxide. And can hide the growth of pathogens, such as Clostridium Botulinum, Salmonella and E. coli.
"The FDA should not have accepted carbon monoxide in meat without doing its own independent evaluation of the safety implications," said Elizabeth Campbell, former head of FDA's Office of Food Labeling and now a consultant with AAC Consulting Group.
