How many of you have meat at least once a day? Bacon or sausage with breakfast? Lunch meat with your lunch? And beef – it’s what’s for dinner in America. On February 11, 2013, Russia banned all U.S. meat (beef, pork, and turkey) and meat products.
Why? Because the U.S. failed to show that these products were free of ractopamine, a growth stimulant. According to Consumer Reports, the European Union, China, and Taiwan also ban ractopamine. So what is this chemical, and why is it bad enough to banned in so many places?
What is Ractopamine?
Ractopamine was first developed as a treatment for asthma, but it was never approved, according
to Consumer Reports. Researchers later
Chemical makeup of ractopamine. Image by: Louisajb
found that when adding ractopamine to an animal’s feed weeks before slaughter, it could either increase their leanness or increase their weight, depending on the dose. For example, pigs are given 5-20 mg/kg of feed to increase their weight before slaughter or they are given 10-20 mg/kg of feed to increase leanness. Cows are given this drug before slaughtering to achieve the same results as pigs; either to fatten them up or to keep them lean, reports the World Health Organization Food Additive Series document.
According to Consumer Reports, researchers analyzed 240 pork products and found that 20 percent of these products contained ractopamine. The pork had less than five parts per billion; which is below the FDA’s limit of 50 parts per billion. The International limit is 10 parts per billion.
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