date:Dec 31, 2013
ive ingredient zilpaterol hydrochloride, is a federally approved weight-gaining supplement. It is added to cattle feed in the weeks before slaughter to add extra pounds of profit-producing meat.
Zilmax was worth nearly $160 million in annual sales in the United States and Canada last year, and was a steady cash generator for Merck's animal health business, which has about $3.3 billion in global sales.
The additive served as a go-to solution for a troubled cattle industry, as one-fifth of the n