09.02.2013

Russia said earlier this month that it was requiring meat it imports to be tested and certified free of the feed additive Ractopamine, due to a lack of compliance to its zero-tolerance policy for ractopamine residues in meat and poultry products. This move jeopardizing the more than $500 million a year in exports of U.S. beef and pork to that country. Ractopamine hydrochloride, is a beta-adrenergic agonist, a feed ingredient that directs nutrients from fat to lean protein, helping increase the yield of lean meat from pigs and cattle.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ractopamine as safe - for boosting growth and leanness in pigs in the weeks leading up to slaughter - in 1999 and has since approved the drug for use in cattle and turkeys. The substance remains prohibited in China, the European Union, and many other countries. In response to the new policy on ractopamine, Canada and Brazil, where the drughave reportedly given Russian authorities assurance that pork and beef exports is authorized, will be certified ractopamine-free before being shipped to Russia. Last summer, the Codex Alimentarius Commission ended a years-long dispute over whether to approve an international standard for maximum residue limits for ractopamine in beef and pork products. The commission approved the standards in an unusually contentious vote, 69-67, but trade disputes over the drug have continued.