August 12, 2013
Tyson to stop buying livestock fed with growth additive Zilmax
Top US meat packer, Tyson Foods Inc., which buys about one in four of all US cattle for slaughter, said it will stop purchasing livestock fed with the growth additive Zilmax, in view of animal welfare concerns.
This week, Tyson Foods sent a letter to all feedlot operators saying it would suspend purchases of Zilmax-fed cattle beginning September 6, after some of the animals arrived at its plant lame and had problems moving. Tyson said it was unsure what caused the problems, but added that some animal health experts suggested a possible link to Zilmax, also called zilpaterol.
Tyson's announcement that it would stop buying cattle fed with a widely used drug that can add more than 30 pounds to the average steer will result in less meat and higher prices. Without the added growth benefits of Zilmax, feedlot owners will need to buy even more feed to create the same amount of beef.
While the move could put a dent in Tyson's margins by limiting its choice to higher-cost cattle, some analysts also saw a potential commercial benefit - exports. Big meat importers including Russia and China moved recently to ban a similar growth-enhancing drug, ractopamine, used in pigs. Thus far,
Tyson, which on average processes 132,000 head of cattle/week, stands alone in boycotting a drug used in half or more of the US herd, according to industry sources.
Zilmax, manufactured by Merck & Co Inc, is the latest in a line of popular "beta agonist" used in the cattle industry to help promote weight gain and leanness in meat. The additive, which is FDA approved and does not pose a food safety threat, is blended with feed rations and given to cattle in the last few weeks they are in feedlots. While on Zilmax they can gain weight 4% more efficiently, adding 20 pounds or more to the average steer before it is shipped to packers for processing, analysts say.
Its popularity has surged in the past few years as it allowed more lean meat to be produced with less feed, and therefore lower cost, industry sources said. Record high grain prices in recent years have also put pressure on feedlot margins, driving adoption of new ways to enhance growth.
Without using Zilmax or an alternative, achieving an extra 30 pounds of carcass weight would require 240 pounds of feed. While there is no hard data on how much of the US cattle herd is fed Zilmax, industry experts said it was likely between 20% and 50%, and possibly higher.
The impact has been apparent: The average weight of slaughter-ready cattle on a live basis was 1,273 pounds in 2007; by 2012 it had risen nearly 30 pounds or 2% to 1,302 pounds, according to USDA data.
Despite the economic benefits, animal welfare advocates have raised the alarm about cattle that may have been unable to handle the stress of the additional weight. Many food companies are increasingly sensitive to public perception of their treatment of animals. Others have complained that Zilmax-fed cattle produces steaks that are less juicy than those raised on grain or forage-based systems.
While Zilmax is considered one of the best weight gain additives, there are alternatives like Optaflexx, which Tyson has not banned, analysts noted.
