If you’re a fan of industrial news, you probably already know that pork exported outside of America to other countries can no longer have ractopamine.
If you’ve not heard of this before, you might be stressing and thinking about the meat you’re selling. And if you risk getting denied exportation. With several countries banning ractopamine, you might want to know more about it and why it is crucial.
What is ractopamine, and why is it banned?
While some food and safety organizations have approved of ractopamine and concluded its safety, other countries have banned pork imports that contain this additive. It also reduces the number of markets you can export your products to other states.
Ractopamine helps increase the amount of meat in turkeys, cattle, and pigs by adding the additive to the animal feeds they consume. But since the ban will affect many large-scale meat producers, most manufacturers are devising ways to ensure their meat meets the required quality standards for exports.
Farmers consider the feed additive a significant perk as it helps to deal with larger animals or more money. The additive is an affordable alternative in assisting animals with attaining a certain weight resulting in the final production stages.
What can I do to make sure that my meat attains all the standards?
If you are not sure if the farmers you are dealing with use ractopamine in their animal feed, there is a way to get answers to this question. You will be required to conduct a ractopamine analysis at a laboratory.
The test can get conducted in a reliable food safety lab, which will help you in getting the results required to assess if the additive was included during the meat production process. The testing will ensure that the products meet all the required safety standards.
With the ractopamine testing, knowing livestock nutrition might give you peace of mind before getting the meat. It assures you of quality assurance and an overview of what is present in the animal’s feeds. You want to assess if the nutrients present in their foods are enough for every production stage.
Choosing the best laboratory for ractopamine testing
When choosing a laboratory for your ractopamine analysis, you want a laboratory that offers personalized services. The company should give every-time and on-time delivery that you cannot get in other laboratories.
The customer service should also be outstanding, and the staff should emphasize the understanding that your product needs to be of high quality. Should you miss your call, the lab should take the initiative to call you back. And respond to all your inquiries.
When choosing a laboratory, you want to consider one with the best certifications. The company should be accredited and certified by the relevant bodies. That ensures that you get high-quality services with the analysis.
Finally, you want to consider a laboratory with good reviews. Check their website and see how their customers think about their lab services. Refrain from settling for laboratories with negative reviews because it could mean that their testing services and analysis are substandard.