Wichita company hopes to wipe-out food-borne illnesses

Wichita, Kansas . Oct. 11, 2007 – KSN.com
http://www.ksn.com/news/local/10492532.html

Twenty-two million pounds of meat recalled, twenty-five people in eight states become sick. E-coli is a growing danger that a Wichita company promises to stop. "We can eliminate e-coli and salmonella from the food supply now," said Scott Crain, CEO of VeriPrime. VeriPrime is a local business whose goal is to eradicate food-borne illness.

"This is a quantum leap for food safety. It truly takes food safety from defense to offense. We will attack food born illness," said Crain.

Here's how it works: VeriPrime installs prevention measures using e-coli killing supplements. It's a spray that's applied to the cattle's feed, then duplicated in the processing of the meat. Then the health of the meat is tracked from the time it leaves the plant to the time it arrives in the grocery store. "When we are done it reduces E-coli by 99.9%," said Crain.

Good news for consumers shaken by the recent hamburger recall which also has safety advocates demanding change. "This is the second largest recall of ground beef in our history and it indicates a breakdown in processing and the government inspection program," said one consumer safety advocate.

But Kansas Pizza Hut franchisee Hal McCoy says inspection is not the answer -- prevention is. "Inspection cannot kill the germ, it can just find it," said McCoy. And McCoy's company is already on board with the VeriPrime program. "The biggest thing for me is to know that my kids and grandkids are going to have a food safety system that has eliminated that make people sick and make people die," said McCoy.

Food recalls are on the rise. So far this year, up 10 percent from four years ago. Consumers and officials are demanding change and it could come from Wichita.

For Low Bandwidth Click Here