Helena Bottemiller of The Food and Environment Reporting Network says “few Americans outside of the livestock industry have ever heard of ractopamine.”  Well, I certainly had never heard of ractopamine before reading her article today.  Apparently it’s a drug fed to pigs right up until slaughter to “keep pigs lean and boost their growth.”  Why is this now making news?  Europe, China, Taiwan, and other countries “have banned its use, citing concerns about its effect on human health.”  Chinese officials are especially concerned because of “higher residues in organ meats, which are consumed in China.”  [emphasis mine] These countries do not want our pork  because it still has traces of the drug in the meat.  Why should we be concerned?  Ractopamine is fed to 60 to 80 percent of pigs in the U.S., and “has sickened or killed more of them than any other livestock drug on the market, Food and Drug Administration records show.  Cattle and turkeys have also suffered high numbers of illnesses from the drug.”  You got it, ractopamine makes the pigs sick, cattle and turkeys too, and there are traces of the drug still in the meat after slaughter.  Just how bad is it?  Here’s how Helena Bottemiller describes it:

Since it was introduced, ractopamine had sickened or killed more than 218,000 pigs as of March 2011, more than any other animal drug on the market, a review of FDA veterinary records shows. Pigs suffered from hyperactivity, trembling, broken limbs, inability to walk and death, according to FDA reports released under a Freedom of Information Act request.

What is the U.S. reaction to this controversy?  Ban or limit the drug?  Oh, no! “U.S. trade officials are now pressing more countries to accept meat from animals raised on ractopamine.”  “Their effort focused on a relatively obscure corner of the trade world — the U.N.’s Codex Alimentarius Commission, which sets global food-safety standards.”  The commission can’t decide “what, if any, level of ractopamine is safe in meat.”  Why the push?  U.S. pork exports to China “quadrupled from 2005 to 2010 . . . but are still only 2-3 percent of the market.”  In other words, the U.S. wants a bigger share of the market.

Why do U.S. producers want to continue giving ractopamine to pigs? “Pigs fed the drug in the last weeks of their life produce an average of 10 percent more meat . . . That raises profits by $2 per head.”  Taiwan found traces of ractopamine in American beef and pork when it began testing last year–meat was pulled from shelves.

Just last Monday, the Supreme Court unnanimously overturned a California law that required slaughterhouses to immediately euthanize animals that cannot walk.  Federal law takes precedence–federal inspectors at slaughterhouses have the final word when livestock are to sick to stand.  Too sick to stand?  What could justify allowing the meat from sick animals into our food supply?

China has been getting a lot of bad press lately over its food safety issues, but, on this one, they seem to be ahead of us in banning the use of the drug and not wanting meat containing it.  What I learned today is just one more reason to eat meat from local, pastured animals raised without growth promoting drugs.  Sources of pastured meat  in Houston . . .

Sources:

Helena Bottemiller, Dispute over drug in feed limiting US meat exports
Supreme Court overturns Califonia slaughterhouse law