Schools abandon irradiated food study

St. Cloud Times (St. Cloud, MN)

May 28, 2003 Wednesday

By Kate Kompas

SAUK RAPIDS - The Sauk Rapids-Rice school district is no longer part of a state agency survey to determine what people think of irradiation, a controversial way to prepare food.

The Department of Children, Families and Learning is looking at the information collected from people in the survey cities, spokesman Doug Gray said. Sauk Rapids-Rice schools was tapped earlier this year to participate, but the district dropped out before it was time to start sending back information to the state. The state will again contact the participants to see if their views on irradiation and food safety changed.

There was enough confusion about the survey among parents that it warranted dropping out, Superintendent Greg Vandal said Tuesday. School districts that are participating in the survey are not asked to serve irradiated meat.

Irradiation involves low-level radiation aimed at food to kill insects, mold and bacteria. The Sauk Rapids-Rice school district does not use irradiated meat, Vandal said.

"It was at the point and time when we were being asked to distribute information, and it felt like it was taking a position on irradiated beef," Vandal said. "We recognized we would put ourselves in the middle of a debate, and this isn't our issue. This is an issue for health officials."

Irradiation advocates say it can stop the spread of organisms such as E. coli. Critics argue not enough is known about the long-term effects.

The district received no money or other incentives, Vandal said.

The part of the survey Sauk Rapids-Rice participated in involved giving the state access to school staffers, as well as the telephone numbers of parents in the district. The state used that information to ask questions about food-safety issues and irradiation.

"We think our materials are pretty balanced," Gray said. "We developed them together with some experts in the field."

The survey involves only two other Minnesota districts; Willmar, about 60 miles southwest of St. Cloud, and Spring Lake Park, a Minneapolis suburb.