MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - Calling RIA Novosti’s description of the livestock growth drug, ractopamine, “inflammatory” and “incorrect,” communications director of the US Meat Export Federation stated that the drug meets international standards and only a small number of US trade partners, including Russia, refuse to accept livestock treated with the drug.
“If you want to find somebody, who is critical [of ractopamine use], you can find them. It doesn’t make them a scientific expert; it doesn’t make them a standard setting body,” said Joe Schuele of the Meat Export Federation. According to Schuele, the often cited figure of 160 countries worldwide with a ban on ractopamine use is “concocted in a very misleading fashion.”
Ractopamine used to enhance lean muscle weight before slaughter has been controversial among US trading partners. While the safe level of ractopamine was set in a very close vote by the international standards-setting body Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), China, the European Union, and Taiwan took a no tolerance approach to the use of the drug. Those countries and Russia do not allow producers to use ractopamine or accept livestock shipments treated with the drug.
“In Russia's case, Russia’s official position is they have never done a risk assessment and they never approved it for use,” Schuele said of Russia’s ban. However, an opinion filed by the European Food Safety Authority in 2009 “found weaknesses in the data” used to assess a maximum residue level for ractopamine.
Schuele noted that it is rare that a meat shipment is rejected because of ractopamine levels. “It can happen, but it’s rare. Where it’s an issue are in countries that have no tolerance levels. Those are basically, Russia, the EU, and China.”
