Irradiation Option For School Meat Moves Forward Despite Concerns

By Michelle R. Davis

Washington

Schools may get to serve federally supplied irradiated meat to students, under a policy shift that was in the works before a listeria outbreak sent cafeteria workers scurrying to clean out their refrigerators last month.

The federal law that provides assistance to American farmers, approved in May, had already paved the way for irradiated foods to be served through the federal school lunch program. But more attention is being paid to irradiation—which kills bacteria and parasites that can cause illness—since the disclosure that 1.8 million pounds of turkey for schools came from a supply tainted with potentially dangerous listeria bacteria.

Despite a recall of the tainted meat, some of it made onto school lunch tables, though no...