The latest data showing levels of residues from veterinary drugs and other substances in animals and animal-derived food in 2022 in Europe has been published.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) report looks at hormones, antibacterials, environmental contaminants, prohibited substances, and other veterinary drugs. It includes data reported by EU
Continue Reading EU reveals results of vet drug residues in food and animals
Taiwan may have made a deal with U.S. trade negotiators to end the ban on ractopamine in imported livestock on Jan. 1, but local governments are not going along.
Mayors of Taipei, New Taipei, and Taichung are looking for ways to protect consumers, such as by encouraging retailers to set
Continue Reading Selling pork with ractopamine was supposed to be easier, but just got harder in Taiwan
A number of UK consumers could be willing to pay more to avoid food made using production methods common in the United States but banned in Europe.
Research from the School of Economics at the University of Kent, the University of Reading and IHS Markit, found that UK consumers highly
Continue Reading UK public ready to pay to avoid hormones in beef and chlorinated chicken
Mega-producer JBS USA has banned the use of ractopamine in the hogs it purchases because it sees a trade opportunity with China where the growth drug remains prohibited. JBS, owned by JBS S.A. based in Brazil, hopes to help China fill a huge gap created by the African swine disease
Continue Reading JBS USA drops ractopamine amidst trade opportunities with China
Humane farming advocates Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT) have released an overview of the antibiotics and other drugs used in turkey production. The organization is part of the Keep Antibiotics Working coalition, which recommends that food animal producers limit the use of medically important antibiotics to disease treatment in order
Continue Reading Report: Most Turkey Producers Allow Routine Antibiotic Use
A trio of food safety and environmental advocacy groups Thursday filed suit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, saying the agency has not sufficiently proven that ractopamine, a drug fed to pigs, cattle and turkey, is safe for animals, humans who eat them, or the environment. Ractopamine, a beta-agonist,
Continue Reading Nonprofits Sue FDA Claiming Agency Hasn’t Proven Safety of Animal Growth Drug
The ban on U.S. pork and beef exports to Russia over ractopamine is costly for American producers, but not as much as was recently reported by the U.S. Ambassador. 
U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told a Moscow business newspaper that the year-old ban had cost America’s pork and beef
Continue Reading Lost Meat Sales to Russia Over Ractopamine Costing Millions, Not Billions
A new U.S. Department of Agriculture certification program for livestock producers may permit them to market their products with a special “Never Fed Beta Agonists” label. 
Beta agonists are feed additives used to increase muscle mass and promote weight gain in livestock animals. The drugs are typically added to feed
Continue Reading USDA Introduces Certification Program for Meat Without Growth-Enhancing Drugs
The sale of Smithfield Foods, the United States’ largest pork producer, to Shuanghui International, China’s largest meat company, raises new questions about the future of ractopamine, a controversial growth-promoting drug that is widely used in U.S. pork production and has long been the subject of trade disputes. As a report
Continue Reading Smithfield Sale Raises New Questions About the Future of Ractopamine
Thirty-three U.S. senators from livestock states, including Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS), chairwoman and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, on Tuesday sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk urging him to “quickly address” Russia’s recent ban on all U.S. beef, pork and turkey over
Continue Reading Senators Urge U.S. Trade Rep to Resolve Russian Ractopamine Ban
