Reuters - 12/30/13, P.J. Huffstutter and Tom Polansek
Fog shrouds the Tyson slaughterhouse in Burbank, Washington December 26, 2013. Credit: REUTERS/Ross Courtney
(Reuters) - The U.S. beef industry's dependence on the muscle-building drug Zilmax began unraveling here, on a sweltering summer day, in the dusty cattle pens outside a Tyson Foods Inc slaughterhouse in southeastern Washington state.
The 17 animals had a factor in common, according to an examination of U.S. government documents and interviews with people who had direct knowledge of the events. In the weeks before the cattle were shipped to Tyson's slaughterhouse, outside the city limits of Pasco, all had been fed Merck & Co Inc's profit-enhancing animal feed additive, Zilmax.
More: Reuters.com
