Steroid Hormones and Food Safety

Since the 1950s, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a number of steroid hormone drugs for use in beef cattle and sheep, including natural estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and their synthetic versions. (FDA) These drugs increase the animals’ growth rate and the efficiency by which they convert the feed they eat into meat. (FDA) The principle of using steroids is very controversial due in part to people wanting to know what is in their food however with the growing population of the United States and also other countries around the world, it could be said that it is a necessity to use hormones to provide enough meat to the population.

The FDA approves these drugs only after information and/or studies have shown that the food from the treated animals is safe for people to eat, and that the drugs do not harm the treated animal or the environment. (FDA) The drugs also have to be effective, meaning that they work as intended. (FDA) The labeling for each product provides all instructions for safe and effective use and is approved by FDA. (FDA) For each approved product, the FDA also makes available to the public via its website a Freedom of Information Summary that summarizes the information that FDA used to determine that the drug is safe for the treated animals, the animal products (edible tissues such as meat) are safe for humans to eat, and that the product is effective. (FDA)

Some of the approved drugs are naturally produced throughout life in people and animals, such as estradiol (estrogen), progesterone, and testosterone. (FDA)These natural hormones are necessary for normal development, growth, and reproduction. (FDA) People are not at risk from eating food from animals treated with these drugs because the amount of additional hormone following drug treatment is very small compared with the amount of natural hormones that are normally found in the meat of untreated animals and that are naturally produced in the human body. (FDA)

Some of the approved drugs are synthetic versions of the natural hormones, such as trenbolone acetate and zeranol. (FDA) Just like the natural hormone implants, before FDA approved these drugs, FDA required information and/or toxicological testing in laboratory animals to determine safe levels in the animal products that we eat (edible tissues). (FDA) Furthermore, FDA required that the manufacturers demonstrate that the amount of hormone left in each edible tissue after treatment is below the appropriate safe level. (FDA) As described above, a safe level is a level which would be expected to have no harmful effect in humans. (FDA)

With everything there is the good, bad and ugly. In order to make the right decision for yourself you need to do research about what is in your food and what you are willing to risk. Every source of meat is regulated by the Department of Agriculture and also regulated by the FDA. 


Reference
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2016, from http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ProductSafetyInformation/ucm055436.htm