Coles Stops Selling Beef From Cattle Injected With Hormone Growth Promotants

Claiming Australian consumers prefer organic foods, supermarket company Coles said it will stop selling beef that contains hormone growth promotants (HGPs). Industry observers, however, claim that HGPs, which are additives regularly used by farmers to enhance cattle’s muscle growth, are safe and effective in expanding production of beef. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s livestock industry chief Alan Bell said that banning HGP beef will cause beef prices to go up. Australian Cattle Council chief David Inall said that the marketing campaign for hormones-free beef scares customers from eating beef with HGPs, which have been approved for use in Australia in 1979, but were prohibited in the Europe Union in 1988.