The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company announced that it now offers customers irradiated fresh ground beef. Customers can find irradiated fresh ground beef in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut Stop & Shop supermarkets. Irradiated fresh ground beef will be available in New York and New Jersey Stop & Shop supermarkets on February 16. Irradiated fresh ground beef provides customers with a new option for added assurance of food safety. Stop & Shop will be selling three SureBeam(R) labeled irradiated beef products: 93/7 lean ground beef, 85/15 ground beef and 93/7 ground chuck patties.
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Irradiating food has proven to be a safe way to reduce the risk of food- borne illness, while maintaining the quality and fresh taste of the product. SureBeam(R) irradiation is a process that uses a concentrated beam of electrical energy to destroy potentially harmful bacteria, including E. coli and salmonella. This process is environmentally safe and non-nuclear. Much like milk pasteurization, the SureBeam(R) process helps to make food safer for consumers. This process does not heat the food and very little nutrient content is lost in processing - far less than is lost in canning and cooking. The SureBeam(R) process is approved by the Food and Drug Administration and by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is endorsed by the major public health organizations including the American Medical Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Dietetic Association and the U.S. Surgeon General. "Food safety is a priority at Stop & Shop," said spokesperson Faith Weiner. "Now we are offering a new option in fresh ground beef for added assurance of food safety. Consumers still should carefully follow all food safety guidelines when preparing and cooking ground meat products. This includes washing hands and surfaces often, not cross contaminating food products, refrigerating product promptly and cooking ground beef to 1600 F by using a quick response thermometer or T-Stick."
Food-borne illnesses affect 76 million consumers and account for 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths each year, according to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Food irradiation improves the safety of foods for the people most highly susceptible to such illnesses, including diabetics, transplant patients, people on cancer therapies, HIV/AIDS patients, and the very young and elderly.
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company operates more than 336 supermarkets in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. Headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts, Stop & Shop employs more than 57,000 associates.
Headquartered in San Diego, California, SureBeam Corporation is a leading provider of electron beam food safety systems and services for the food industry. SureBeam's technology significantly improves food quality, prolongs shelf life, and provides disinfestations that help to protect the environment. The SureBeam patented system is based on proven electron beam and x-ray technology that destroys harmful food-borne bacteria much like thermal pasteurization does to milk. This technology can also eliminate the need for toxic chemical fumigants used in pest control that may be harmful to the earth's ozone layer. For its "great step" into food safety, SureBeam's revolutionary technology is the winner of Food Processing Magazine's "Innovation Award" for 2001.
SOURCE The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company
CONTACT: Megan Pratt of The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, +1-617-770-6029
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