Posted August 21, 2013
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will work with
Merck & Co. and the USDA to gather information and review a cattle feed
additive, Zilmax, to determine if the product is unsafe, according to a Reuters
story, available here.
Recently, Tyson Foods, Inc. announced that it would
stop accepting beef from Zilmax-fed cattle “after it observed animals arriving
at its slaughter facilities with signs that they had difficulty walking or
moving.” According to a Beef Magazine
article, available here, a
letter from Tyson addressed to cattle feeders stated that some health experts
suggested “the use of the feed supplement Zilmax, also known as zilpaterol is
one possible cause.” As an “interim measure”
Tyson will not purchase cattle fed with Zilmax after Sept. 6. The company further stated that this “is not
a food safety issue. It is about animal
well-being and ensuring the proper treatment of the livestock we depend on to
operate.”
Merck released a statement highlighting animal
well-being as a priority for the company, stating that the “benefits and safety
of Zilmax are well documented” and that “Zilmax has a 30+ year history of
research and development and rigorous testing.”
Merck announced that it would temporarily suspend sales
of Zilmax in the U.S. and Canada and “revealed a new program to retrain and
certify beef producers in administering Zilmax, which had sales of $159 million
last year” according to the Reuters
article. Zilmax was
approved by the FDA in 2006 and “is one drug in the class of beta-agonists,
which is approved and deemed safe by the FDA and long used in the livestock
industry to add muscle weight to cattle, pigs, and turkey in the weeks before
slaughter.”
According to another
article by Beef Magazine, live “cattle futures surged on the
news, as traders anticipated less beef volume in the coming months.” Cargill, National Beef and JBS announced that
they would not follow Tyson’s decision and would continue to accept cattle fed
with Zilmax. Glynn Tonsor, Kansas State
University economist, said that this announcement might “take some of the heat
off of the beef tonnage concerns that rocked traders earlier, but the situation
is fluid” and “nothing guarantees that Cargill, National, and JBS won’t change
their policies down the road, or that Tyson will change its policy, for that
matter.”
