Banned growth chemical remains a problem in beef in central Mexico

Fourteen years after Mexico banned cattle ranchers from using a growth enhancer called clenbuterol, statistics from the federal agency responsible for meat quality show that some Mexican cattlemen just can’t give it up. That’s especially true in the states surrounding Mexico City, where thousands of American retirees have settled and thousands of American tourists visit. Testing in the state of Guanajuato, home to the popular retiree center of San Miguel de Allende, found 30 percent of 175 samples tested were tainted with clenbuterol, which can cause heart palpitations, tremors, dizziness, nausea and increased anxiety in people who ingest it. Symptoms generally pass within two to six days. Outside of a cluster of states in central Mexico, it appears unlikely that foreign tourists would feel ill effects from eating beef. Most major supermarkets and restaurant chains buy their beef from 117 large private slaughterhouses with on-site federal inspectors who conduct rigorous testing of meat for contamination. Northern Mexico and coastal resorts also appear free from the taint. But that inspection regimen falls apart in a half-dozen Mexican states surrounding the capital, where cattlemen often sell their beef to smaller slaughterhouses operated by municipalities. That beef generally turns up at street markets, where poorer Mexican consumers shop, then goes to sidewalk taco stands, mom-and-pop restaurants and into Mexican homes...more