Unlike other veterinary drugs used in U.S. meat that are withdrawn before slaughter (or thrown away as ears) ractopamine is begun in the days before slaughter and never withdrawn. It is given to cattle for their last 28 to 42 days, to pigs for their last 28 days, and to turkeys for their last seven to 14 days. Marketed as Paylean for pigs, as Optaflexx for cattle, and as Topmax for turkeys, ractopamine is not just banned in Europe, it is banned in 160 countries.
Public health officials and livestock specialists are
increasingly questioning the drug's wide and often clandestine use. "Ractopamine
usage benefits producers, but not consumers. It is bad for animal welfare and
has some bad effects on humans," said Donald Broom, a professor at the University
of Cambridge's department of veterinary medicine, at a forum on the topic in
Taipei earlier this year.
In China, the Sichuan Pork Trade Chamber of Commerce reported that more than 1,700 people have been "poisoned" from eating Paylean-fed pigs since 1998 in 2007, it seized U.S. pork for its ractopamine residues.
Thanks to the black hand of Big Meat on USDA and FDA policies, the drugstore in U.S. meat is largely hidden from food consumers. So are the health effects of the cheap, ubiquitous and unwholesome meat. END
Martha Rosenberg's acclaimed expose of Big Food, Born with a
Junk Food Deficiency, is now available in bookstores, libraries, online and as
an ebook in time for the holidays.
twitter @marthrosenberg
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