Clenbuterol and "Lean Meat Powder" at CCTV 3.15 Gala

 translation by Karen Wang

The level of this year's CCTV 3.15 Gala is significantly higher than in the previous years. The issues exposed have depth and great influence on consumers' life, although most of the problems remain hidden. 

Among them, the exposure of food safety and other related matters, which not only stay in issues like tampering with the shelf life, but also digs deep into the "Clenbuterol in Mutton" incident. 

Any idea of what is Clenbuterol? Read along and discover it. 

1. What is “Lean Meat Powder”?

Lean Meat Powder is a general term for a class of drugs. Any substance that can inhibit the formation of animal fat and promote the growth of lean meat can be called "Lean Meat Powder". 

The substances that can achieve this kind of function are mainly a class of drugs called β-agonist, among which the more common are clenbuterol hydrochloride, salbutamol, ractopamine, salbutamol sulfate, dopamine hydrochloride, cimaterol and terbutaline sulfate. The Ractopamine is infamous for the "Ractopamine in Pork" incident in Taiwan. 

Today we talk about Clenbuterol hydrochloride, which can change the metabolic pathway of nutrients and accelerate the growth of animal muscles, especially by promoting the synthesis of skeletal muscle protein, accelerating the transformation and decomposition of fat, and improving the lean meat rate of cattle. 

2. How this “Clenbuterol hydrochloride” comes?

Clenbuterol hydrochloride is a drug used to relieve bronchial asthma and part of bronchospasm. 

In 1984, Clenbuterol hydrochloride was first used in sheep, broiler and pork production in the United States. It has achieved better results in reducing fat production and promoting protein synthesis, to avoid the economic loss risk caused by the high fat content of meat.

3. What are the damages?

The harm of clenbuterol comes from drug residues. These substances will remain in animal tissues, especially in the liver and other internal organs. 

After consuming the meat containing clenbuterol, people may have the symptoms like muscle tremor, palpitation, shivering, headache, nausea, vomiting, etc., which are more harmful to patients with hypertension, heart disease, glaucoma, diabetes, hyperthyroidism and prostatic hypertrophy, and could even cause death.

4. What are the national relevant prohibitions?

From 2001 to 2002, the Ministry of Agriculture and other State ministries and commissions successively issued regulations of Announcement of No. 176, No. 193 and No. 1519 to prohibit the use of beta agonist drugs (which can be understood as the official category name of Clenbuterol) as veterinary drugs and feed additives. The categories of related drugs are as follows:

Since 2017, beside the 16 kinds of drugs listed above, some new "Lean Meat Powder" substances have emerged. For example, Clonidine, Baclofen, Cyproheptadine, etc.

The use of Lean Meat Powder is allowed in some foreign countries. For example, Ractopamine is legal in the United States. By comparing the limit requirements of the United States and Japan for Ractopamine in pig, cattle liver and pork and beef, it can be seen that the limit in liver is about 3 or 4 times higher than that in meat, because the main metabolic organs of this kind of drugs are kidney and liver, therefore the residue limit is higher. 

However, the use of Lean Meat Powder is banned in China. Since March 1, 2013, the importers or agents of imported meat must provide the test report of "Non- ractopamine Residue" when they apply for the inspection of imported American pork at the port of entry.

5. What are the countermeasures?

Meat sources must be legally inspected and stamped with quarantine seal and provided with quarantine certificate before entering the circulation. The testing methods that the law enforcement personnel use include high-performance liquid chromatography, biosensor technology, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and others.

6. How to regulate?

A salesman in Qing County, Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, who was interviewed secretly by the team of the TV Gala program on March 15, said that the practice of adding Clenbuterol to feed "has been going on for almost 10 years". That how the so called "Clenbuterol in Mutton" incident was discovered.

Just like in the fight against crimes, we need to strengthen our daily management and prevent them from happening by means of lurking, undercover, reporting and exposuring. 

In addition to the supervision of Clenbuterol in the domestic breeding industry, we should also avoid illegal meat and meat products entering from outside country.

After the 3.15 Gala, Cangzhou, Hebei Province responded that night, the person in charge of the enterprise involved had been controlled and the mutton with issue was sealed up, the source of Clenbuterol was being traced back. 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said that he sent working teams to the scene overnight to urge the local authorities to strictly implement the responsibility of territorial management, seriously punish illegal acts and release to the community the results of the investigation.