Perhaps you have
heard that Tyson Foods Inc. has stopped purchasing cattle that have been fed Zilmax,
a feed additive meant to improve carcass quality. The subsequent flood of news stories peppered
with phrases like “beta-agonists,” “growth promotants,” and “animal welfare”
can understandably raise questions from the public. What are beta-agonists? Are they safe for animals to consume? If fed to an animal, is the meat safe for me to eat? A very comprehensive article published by the
American Society of Animal Science’s Taking
Stock newsletter explains beta-agonists well. The entire article can be found at http://takingstock.asas.org/?p=9145. Here’s a brief summary of this article’s
explanation of beta-agonists and what they do:
·
As animals mature, lean muscle is more difficult
to produce than fat. At the finishing
stage (the time period before slaughter), beta-agonists encourage the formation
of muscle mass rather than fat. This means
more lean meat (about 30 pounds per head of beef) will be available for the
consumer.
·
Beta-agonists used for livestock are called
ractopamine and zilpaterol hydrochloride; both are approved by the FDA Center
for Veterinary Medicine. While
ractopamine can be used for swine and cattle, zilpaterol hydrochloride is only
fed to cattle. Its trade name, as sold
by Merck & Co., is Zilmax.
·
Meat from beef cattle fed Zilmax is safe to
eat. Beta-agonists break down quickly
before animals are slaughtered, and no human illnesses or ailments have ever
been tied to the consumption of meat from Zilmax-fed cattle.
·
Tyson Foods Inc. has cited joint problems for its
concern over cattle fed Zilmax with the logic that additional weight gained due
to Zilmax would add pressure to joints.
However, no direct connection between Zilmax consumption and the loss of
joint integrity has been found (McCurry-Schmidt, 2013).
So there we
are. Zilmax is FDA-approved, increases
the amount of lean muscle on a carcass and does not harm consumer health. Of course, since the health of animals is a
top priority for farmers and processors, the appearance of cattle with obvious
joint problems has raised concerns.
According to a recent article in The
Wall Street Journal, Merck & Co. will temporarily suspend sales of
Zilmax and conduct studies on how the additive affects the health of cattle
(Newman & Gee, 2013). Research into this
issue will hopefully reconfirm Zilmax’s safety, identify how it may affect
cattle negatively, or reveal a different cause for joint problems.
Of course, while
all cases of endangered animal welfare are important, taking a “guilty until
proven innocent” approach can trigger resentment from producers. Cattle farmers all over the world have
accepted the use of Zilmax for the last twenty years, the FDA has approved it
in the U.S. since 2007, and documented research has supported its use for over
30 years (Rich, 2013). Why, then, is the
blame for beef cattle walking stiffly being thrown on Zilmax? The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association CEO
Forrest Roberts commented recently that specific additives “can be used responsibly
when managed properly,” (Coffeen, 2013).
Providing cattle with the necessities to develop strong skeletons and
feeding promotants for only a short time are parts of proper management;
overuse of a muscle developer on an animal with a weak skeleton can
understandably cause problems.
The world’s
population is growing and, of course, needs to be fed. Beef and pork are choice sources of nutrients
are being demanded more and more by a growing middle class. Being able to increase the yield-to-feed
ratio for livestock will benefit producers, consumers, and animals as long as
the means to do this are safe for all concerned. To understand how much impact Zilmax or other
additives can have on the beef supply, consider this quote from Richard
Raymond, a former Undersecretary for Food Safety, USDA:
“If only half of the 24 million head of cattle harvested
annually, a conservative estimate to be sure, yielded an additional 30 pounds
of meat, this would provide 360 million more pounds of lean beef during a time
when drought and high grain prices are forcing a reduction in the size of the
American cattle herd. That would equate to 1.4 billion additional quarter
pounders to help feed the world’s children, too many of whom go to bed hungry
every night,” (Raymond, 2013).
References
Coffeen, Peggy.
(2013). Tyson no longer taking
cattle fed Zilmax. Retrieved from http://www.agriview.com/news/livestock/tyson-no-longer-taking-cattle-fed-zilmax/article_130e0790-6166-5da2-bc5c-a7888abeee49.html.
McMurry-Schmidt, M. (2013, August 16). What are beta agonists? Taking
Stock. Retrieved from http://takingstock.asas.org/?p=9145.
Newman, J. & Gee, K.
(2013, August 18). What’s ailing
America’s cattle? The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323423804579020953889322782.html.
Raymond, R. (2013).
Having agony over the agonists? Perspective
from a former USDA Food Safety official.
Retrieved from http://factsaboutbeef.com/2013/08/02/having-agony-over-the-agonists-perspective-from-a-former-usda-food-safety-official/.
Rich, D. (2013, August 19). Tyson to ban cattle fed with Zilmax. High
Plains/Midwest Ag Journal. Retrieved
from http://www.hpj.com/archives/2013/aug13/aug19/0813ZilmaxbanDRdbsr.cfm.
