As meat companies scramble to eliminate antibiotics from their products to address consumer and regulatory concerns, the federal Agriculture Department has quietly opened a new front in the debate over the use of drugs in the livestock and poultry industries.
In the next few months, consumers will start seeing the phrase “produced without ractopamine” on packages of Organic Buttercroft Bacon from Tendergrass Farms, a company that markets “natural” and organic meats.
Ractopamine hydrochloride is among a class of drugs called beta-agonists, which are used to add muscle weight to animals in the weeks before slaughter. Animals gain weight while eating less, making them cheaper to raise. By some estimates, 60 to 80 percent of pigs raised in the United States are given the drug.
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