Carbon Monoxide Keeps Meat Red, But is it Green?

Here's the secret: Meat packers dose red meat with carbon monoxide to give it long-lasting color. Great for sales at the meat counter, apparently safe to eat -- but inherently deceptive. And, because that deception can trick people into buying old, or even spoiled, meat, consumer groups are fighting to ban the practice.

When it comes to telling the truth about food, the green thing is to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. For people who care about ethics, environmental impact -- and of course, health -- there's no substitute for good information.

Of course the greenest thing you can do is cut down on red meat altogether, since, the truth is, it takes many times as much water, grain and land to produce a meat than to produce the same calories from vegetables and grains, and industrial-scale feed lots that produce most meat are highly-polluting of air and water.

And if you love red meat, consider heritage breeds, local farms and the like. If you can ask the farmer how he packages his meat, you know when it's been butchered and whether or not it's been treated (or mistreated).

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