Clenbuterol was added to pork before, but now it’s the turn of sheep.
The “clenbuterol” lamb in Qingxian County, Hebei Province was exposed during the 315 Gala of China Central Television on March 15, 2021.
The last time clenbuterol was reported was during the 315 Gala in 2011, when Shuanghui Group was exposed by China Central Television (CCTV), which brought the drug into the public spotlight.
Ten years later, the clenbuterol incident still exists.
In fact, clenbuterol is not a specific drug, but a general name for a group of drugs that reduce fat production and promote protein synthesis in animals. They are essentially a class of synthetic β-adrenal receptor agonists (known as β-stimulants).
One of the more common clenbuterol hydrochloride, salbutamol, ractopamine and so on.
In fact, after the first generation of clenbuterol, Eli Lilly developed the second generation of clenbuterol ractopamine, a less toxic, faster metabolizing alternative to clenbuterol, to help pigs, cattle and other pigs grow lean meat and reduce body fat.
It is mainly used in clinical treatment of bronchial asthma, congestive heart failure and muscular dystrophy.
Although the conventional dose of clenbuterol can be metabolized in the body and discharged from the body, excessive intake of ractopamine will cause different degrees of toxic reactions.
At present, the use of ractopamine in food has been banned in more than 160 countries in the world. The European Union, Russia, including China and other countries strictly prohibit all clenbuterol, including ractopamine, with a “one size fit-all” attitude.
In the United States, however, ractopamine is approved for use in livestock and poultry as clenbuterol and has been scientifically tested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
It is worth mentioning that Eli Lilly, founded in 1876, is a global biomedical enterprise with a history of 145 years.
Lilly, along with Denmark’s Novo Nordisk and France’s Sanofi, is one of the world’s “three insulin giants.”
These three multinational pharmaceutical companies monopolized more than 80% of the global insulin market by taking advantage of technology first mover advantage in the early stage.
According to Lilly’s 2020 results, its annual revenue was $24.54 billion. For the first time in its annual report, Lilly disclosed its full-year sales revenue in China, which reached $1.117 billion.