Is Ractopamine on its way out?

[rkaiser]

Anyone hear anything about scraping ractopamine these days? Sounds like the hog boys are taking the lead and scraping the beta agonist "paylean".

Could the ABP / CCA do something positive for our Canadian industry and support a ban on this shit in Canada once and for all?

[kato]

Why give anyone a reason to ban the import of your product? It makes no sense. I think the hog guys have figured this out.

[grassfarmer]

This points to the fragmented nature of modern meat
production - I don't think the "pork guys" figured it
out Kato I think the packer, in this case Smithfield,
did. They get market access for paylean free pork so
they set out to fill that. The producer does what he is
told if he wants to sell his fat hogs to them.
I think thats why we will be waiting for a while for
cattle groups like CCA to "figure it out" - it's not their
call. It will change the day Cargill or JBS decide its
worth going after a ractopamine free market.
If you are a "commodity" producer of beef cattle or
hogs you produce what the buyer (packer) wants and
at the lowest possible cost. Beyond that its all just
talk.

[rkaiser]

No doubt the Smithfield had been courting Shuanghui International for a while GF and started asking the producers to stop using paylean, however the rumor is that the pork council voted. Don't know that for sure, but I do know of numerous pork producers who chose not to use it and do not market their product as paylean free.

Had a couple of interesting visits today with private and public industry folks who like the phrase stove pipe drug, which we have coined these beta agonist growth enhancers. If you do a bit of research on beta agonist, they are used in children with lung problems to try to enhance the moisture absorption capacity of tissue.

Beta agonists in relatively healthy cattle and hogs are kinda like the stovepipe that some of our communal friends used to use in the bag of potatoes to add some "rock" weight.

And the feds and the CCA think this is just a political issue... LMAO. Maybe the Chinese and Russians and most of the rest of the world are simply sick and tired of buying so much water in their beef and pork and turkey and I am not sure what else.

If you don't believe my personal, non peer reviewed scientific study, just buy some pork chops or even beef from Safeway -- whoops I mean Sobeys, and see if it steams and shrinks in yer frying pan before it really starts much cookin.