Bacon or hot dogs, which is your favorite? :)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-11/pigs-using-muscle-drug-means-u-s-missing-china-pork-import-boom

Hog farmers in the U.S., the world’s biggest exporter, are losing out on a big payday because of a feed ingredient that many have been giving pigs for the past 15 years. As hog and pork prices surge in China, the top consumer, its record imports this year will be dominated by Europe, not the U.S., according to Rabobank. Like dozens of countries, China bans the use of ractopamine that is fed to more than three-quarters of American hogs to help them gain muscle faster while eating less grain…

As much as 80 percent of U.S. hogs are raised using ractopamine, according to Brett Stuart, the chief executive officer of research firm Global AgriTrends. The drug was a hit after the Food & Drug Administration approved the first commercial version from Eli Lilly & Co. in 1999, and got even more popular with higher costs for corn feed during the past decade…

While users of the additive include the U.S., Mexico and Australia, and more than 100 countries accept pork raised with it, ractopamine is banned in China, Russia and the 28 nations of the European Union…

China has been restricting beta agonists since 2002 and singled out ractopamine in 2009, according to Elanco. The U.S. has argued the actions weren’t based on any scientific evidence. The Chinese government has said its ban on growth enhancers is designed to improve food safety, after instances of tainted products raised public concern. The country also is seeking to limit use of illegal pesticides and veterinary drugs…

Smithfield Foods, purchased by Hong Kong-based WH Group in 2013, has been working to remove ractopamine from all company-owned animals, it said in a May 22 statement. Smithfield is the world’s largest hog producer and pork processor. Last year, several U.S. plants were disqualified as exporters to China after ractopamine-residue violations and labeling issues, according to the USDA…

From Wikipedia:

Besides the pharmacology effect, ractopamine may cause intoxication effect; therefore, any consumption by humans of a meat and/or byproducts of animals that consumed ractopamine with feed for growth stimulation, may result in such clinical effects as tachycardia and other heart rate increases, tremor, headache, muscle spasm, or high arterial blood pressure. The effect of ractopamine on humans is not entirely known, but consumption of products that contain ractopamine residues is not advisable to people with cardiovascular diseases…

Since the drug was introduced, more than 160,000 pigs taking ractopamine were reported to have suffered adverse effects, as of March 2011, according to a review of FDA records. The drug has triggered more adverse reports in pigs than any other animal drug on the market. Pigs suffered from hyperactivity, trembling, broken limbs, inability to walk and death, according to FDA reports released under a Freedom of Information Act request…