When it comes to clenbuterol, everyone will definitely be familiar with it. As early as 1997, our country has explicitly prohibited the use of this drug in feed and livestock production, and these "clenbuterol" were also exposed at the "March 15 Party" in 2011. The problem of illegal breeding of bodybuilding pig ".
However, these clenbuterol, which are known to be harmful to the human body, are too "tempting" for unscrupulous farmers. Just adding a little clenbuterol to the feed can increase the lean meat rate of pork to a higher level, so in At the "March 15 Party" in 2021, it was once again exposed that some dealers in Qing County, Cangzhou, Hebei Province were selling "clenbuterol" mutton, which shows my country's "zero tolerance" attitude towards clenbuterol.
However, on the one hand, most countries in the world, including my country, have banned clenbuterol, but the United States, which has always focused on "food quality," still chooses to use "second-generation clenbuterol" and did so openly in 2020. Pork that uses “second-generation clenbuterol” is sold to Taiwan. So, what is this “second-generation clenbuterol”? Is it harmful to the human body? Why does the United States still use it regardless of food quality issues?
Clenbuterol is
clenbuterol invented in the United States. It is a general name for a large class of drugs. Its function is to change the nutritional metabolism after entering the animal body, inhibit the accumulation of fat, promote the development of muscles and bones, and achieve the improvement of lean meat. Rate, the more common clenbuterol include clenbuterol hydrochloride, albuterol , albuterol sulfate , etc., and the "clenbuterol" we often say refers to clenbuterol hydrochloride.
In 1963, the American Cyanamid Company synthesized clenbuterol hydrochloride for the first time. Initially, this compound was used for asthma patients. However, in the 1980s, the American Cyanamid Company accidentally discovered that in animals at a certain dose, After eating clenbuterol hydrochloride, the growth rate will be accelerated and the fat storage will be reduced. Therefore, in 1984, clenbuterol hydrochloride was used as a feed additive for the first time in the breeding of pigs and sheep, and achieved very good results. Effect.
At the same time, under the higher food quality requirements in European and American countries, consumers refused to eat fatty meat. Under the influence of this purchasing tendency, the scope of use of clenbuterol hydrochloride was accelerated, and the term "clenbuterol" began to appear. However, after its widespread use, a series of problems also emerged. From 1989 to 1990, after a large number of poisoning incidents occurred in Spain, France, Italy, and the United States, the United States began to ban the use of Clenbuterol Hydrochloride. .
However, the objective economic benefits brought by clenbuterol are too obvious. American breeding companies do not intend to completely abandon this "sharp weapon", so as a substitute for clenbuterol hydrochloride, ractopamine , in 2000 Approved by the US FDA as a new feed additive, it continues to be active in breeding companies as "second-generation clenbuterol". The mechanism of action of
ractopamine is similar to that of clenbuterol hydrochloride. Both are beta-adrenoceptor agonists, but it is characterized by low toxicity, fast metabolism, no obvious side effects, and a higher lean meat rate. According to research data, , at an animal protein level of 13.5%, the lean meat rate of individuals using 20mg/kg ractopamine increased by 5.46%.
The profit conspiracy of "second-generation clenbuterol"
Although ractopamine has low toxicity, symptoms of poisoning will still occur after excessive intake. 160 countries in the world have banned the addition of ractopamine in food, but the United States has proposed Completely opposite argument.
The chemical properties of ractopamine are very stable and are mainly excreted as original components through urine and bile. After a number of animal experiments, the United States and other meat exporting countries believe that ractopamine is metabolized very quickly in the animal body, leading to the presence of ractopamine in meat. The accumulation amount is not enough to reach the dose that causes human poisoning, and a standard of 10-30ppd for meat residues has been set to allow it to be sold on the market.
Here we may ask, don’t American consumers know the toxicity of ractopamine?
However, we have overlooked two issues: First, the United States is one of the world's largest pork exporters. Most of the pork produced is exported overseas, and the amount of pork consumed in the country is very small; second, ractopamine mainly passes through the kidneys and liver. Metabolism, the residual amount in different parts of the pig body varies greatly. Americans do not eat pig waste , and the residual amount in viscera is much higher than that in muscle.
As for these animal experiments to verify the toxicity of ractopamine, the data are even more questionable, because most of the current experimental data are still provided by ractopamine production companies, and the data from a human experiment were even more questionable. , there were only 6 volunteers participating in the experiment, and one of the volunteers withdrew early due to physical discomfort. The "safe" conclusion drawn from such an experiment can only be believed by those who are willing to believe it.
my country's crackdown on "second-generation clenbuterol"
The history of the introduction of clenbuterol in my country is not glorious. In 1987, the effect of clenbuterol in "promoting growth and increasing lean meat rate" caused a stir in my country's scientific research community. It caused quite a stir. In an era when the lean meat rate of local pigs was low, the emergence of clenbuterol undoubtedly solved the problem of insufficient pork production capacity in my country at that time. The scientists who introduced clenbuterol have won many national awards for this.
As for what happened later, we are all clear about it. my country banned the use of clenbuterol in 1997. However, according to incomplete statistics, between 1999 and 2005 after the ban, about ,455 people in our country died from eating "clenbuterol". "Pork poisoning, as for the "second-generation clenbuterol" ractopamine, it was no longer allowed to be added to feed in 2002, and the production and sale of ractopamine was completely banned in 2011.
As a major pork consumer, my country's annual pork output in 2021 was 52.96 million tons, and pork imports were 3.71 million tons. Therefore, our country is very strict about the safety testing of imported pork. In 2019, a batch of pork from Canada was found to contain Lactobacillus. Due to dopamine residue, our country immediately suspended meat trade with Canada.
At present, my country's imported pork mainly comes from Spain, Brazil , the United States and other countries. The United States is also aware of China's strict control over pork safety and requires breeding companies to no longer use ractopamine so that it can be exported to my country. However, every year our country starts from The proportion of pork imported into the United States is only about 10%.
