Lausanne, Switzerland - The FEI would like to inform the equestrian community about a feedstuff contamination with Zilpaterol, a Banned Substance on the Equine Prohibited Substances List, following an alert from feed producer GAIN Equine Nutrition advising its equine customers to refrain from feeding their current stock of GAIN Equine products.

On 2 October 2020, the French horse racing authority France Galop announced that five horses had tested positive to Zilpaterol. The substance appears to have derived from the ingestion of contaminated feed.

Zilpaterol is a beta-agonist drug used as a feed additive to increase muscle mass in beef cattle. It can also improve lung function. A number of countries prohibit its use in food producing animals. 

The FEI recommends that samples are kept of batches of feed and supplements given to competition horses to enable a thorough investigation to take place should the horse test positive for Zilpaterol. 

Under the FEI Regulations, it is not possible for horses to be tested for Zilpaterol under the Elective Testing scheme as it is a Banned Substance. 

It is strongly advised that horses that may have inadvertently ingested Zilpaterol are withdrawn from competition.

Further information on contamination prevention can be found here.

The latest updates from GAIN on this issue are available here.