At the concentrations of clenbuterol measured in some contaminated liver and meat samples, pharmacological effects may be expected in humans after consuming 100–200 g of product. As a result of illegal use, clenbuterol in edible tissues of livestock represents a serious risk to consumers. Clenbuterol and some other beta-agonists having relatively slow rates of elimination demonstrate high oral potencies in humans. Ractopamine is a beta-agonist that is metabolized solely by conjugation, has a relatively short plasma half-life, and has low oral potencies in humans. Clenbuterol is metabolized by oxidative and conjugative pathways and has a long plasma half-life. Beta-agonists represent a class of drugs having similar modes of action, but not all have the same safety or toxicity profile. Although this drug was reviewed by the JECFA and Codex has adopted MRLs for some food-producing animals (cattle and horses), Codex recommends that it be used only after approval by national authorities and only in association with therapeutic uses and under well-controlled withdrawal times. As a result of these investigations, the FDA took very aggressive monitoring and enforcement actions to ensure that this activity did not continue.Ĭlenbuterol is a beta-agonist that has the ability to increase muscle mass, but residues in tissues of treated animals can cause symptoms of acute poisoning in people who consume them. There are no FDA-approved growth-promoting hormone implants for veal calves, and the extra-label use for nontherapeutic purposes in veal of these growth-promoting hormonal implants is illegal. In 2004 the FDA responded to several cases of unapproved uses of growth-promoting hormone implants in nonruminating veal calves that went to slaughter.
Illegal use of hormones has also been a problem in the USA. More recent studies have concluded that in some EU Member States, an extended black market in veterinary anabolic hormones still exists.
Smith, in Encyclopedia of Food Safety, 2014 Illegal Use of Anabolics in Food-Producing Animalsĭuring the 1980s, there were widespread press reports in Europe of black market sales of ‘hormone cocktails’ by a ‘hormone mafia’ as well as several reports of serious health effects from consuming meat from treated animals.