Farmland National Beef, the nation's fourth largest packer, hopes this summer to market beef made germ-resistant by a newly approved protein it touts as an all-natural improvement in food safety.
Lactoferrin has been shown to prevent harmful bacteria from attaching to beef, while also inhibiting germs' growth, Farmland senior vice president David Hall said Thursday.
The effect, the company said, lasts from the slaughterhouse to the dinner table, surpassing traditional disinfecting methods that rely largely on cool temperatures to control bacteria during storage and sale.
The Agriculture Department last month approved Farmland's use of the protein, which occurs naturally in milk and already is used in baby formulas. Lactoferrin will be sprayed onto carcasses during the traditional cleansing process and again just before packaging finished meat.
"Consumers are looking for improved food safety," Hall said. "To have an all-natural product that helps against bacteria is really exciting."
Farmland intends to start testing the protein during the next several months and hopes to have it on the commercial market by summer, said Bob Honse, president and chief executive officer of Kansas City, Mo.-based Farmland Industries.
"It could have a huge potential," Honse said.
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