Mass production of meat for the U.S. market often involves administration of hormones or growth promoters to beef and cattle. If you want to buy meat that has not been given hormones, it's best to go with meat labeled “no hormones administered.” The USDA does not allow the labeling of meat as "hormone free." In 2011, federal regulations only allowed the use of hormones with sheep and cattle -- producers are not permitted to administer hormones to poultry or pigs.
Beef
Beef is North America's favorite meat -- the quantity of beef consumed by each person in the U.S. annually is significantly higher than in Europe. Feed lots are facilities used in mass-scale fattening of beef cattle, and hormones are commonly fed to these animals to stimulate and quicken growth. Natural sex hormones were introduced into the beef industry following the 1979 ban on diethylstilbestrol, previously used as a growth promoter in cattle.
FDA Regulation and Legal Status
At the time of publication, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved six forms of steroid hormone for use in domestic food production. The natural female sex hormones progesterone and estradiol and the natural male sex hormone testosterone may be administered to male and female sheep and cattle. Several hormone-like growth promoters are produced synthetically and approved for use in meat production; these include trenbolone acetate, melengesterol acetate and zeranol.
Human Health Concerns
The "International Journal of Health Services" indicates the U.S. beef industry commonly uses the hormones estradiol, testosterone and progesterone. All three of these hormones are potentially carcinogenic to humans, according to Professor Epstein at the University of Illinois. In 2000, Cornell University's BCERF program on the Cancer Risks of Environmental Chemicals in the Home and Workplace indicated hormones in meat had been tentatively linked to early puberty onset in Italian and Puerto Rican girls; however, further research is needed to prove or disprove this link.
Hormone Residue in Meat
Because animals naturally produce their own sex hormones, it is not possible to tell whether levels of the natural sex hormones in meat are elevated because of additional hormone administration. The synthetic growth promoters trembolone acetate and zeranol can be detected in meat, and the FDA limits the amount of either hormone allowable in beef and lamb. Further work is needed to establish testing procedures for hormone levels in meat from treated animals.
References
- "International Journal of Health Services"; The Chemical Jungle: Today's Beef Industry; S.S. Epstein; 1990
- Cornell University BCERF Program on the Cancer Risks of Environmental Chemicals in the Home and Workplace; Consumer Concerns About Hormones in Food; June 2000
- "Food Additives and Contaminants"; Stability During Cooking of Anthelmintic Veterinary Drug Residues in Beef; K.M. Cooper, et al.; February 2011
- FoodReference.com; Beef: North America's Preferred Meat
- Greener Choices: Hormone Free
