No further cases of ractopamine contamination have been found in Canada or China, following the discovery in May of a single sample shipped from Quebec.
Canadian and Chinese plants have been checking for the substance in shipped Canadian pork. The isolated case involved pig feet shipped frozen to China, and while it is known that it was shipped from Olymel’s Vallee Jonction plant, it is still unknown what farm or farms the pig or pigs came from or how they became tainted with ractopamine.
Canada is essentially racto-free with no significant processor accepting pigs treated with the efficiency-improving substance and no significant producers believed to be still using it.
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“Product that was here in Canada or en route is being diverted,” said Gary Stordy of the Canadian Pork Council.
A few hundred containers of frozen pork are believed to have been affected by the problem with merchants having to find alternative markets for the product. Ractopamine is not considered a health risk by Canadian, U.S. or Japanese authorities, but many countries ban it, including China, Russia and the European Union.
Ractopamine allows a pig to more efficiently use feedgrains, converting a higher percentage into lean muscle tissue and a lower percentage into fat.
The U.S. hog industry still includes a significant proportion of ractopamine-treated hogs, which has crimped its exports to China, while Canada’s racto-free pork has seen surging sales.
Canada operates a racto-free certification system, but the recent discovery was made at the plant in China, spurring the Chinese to demand more testing.
