Beef cattle are injected with hormones (testosterone/androgens, 'Boldex' - presumably boldenone) and antibiotics to fatten them, so the meat is 'injected'.

Original statement

بتحنوا العجول ايه تتخنها كده اندروجين صح بتحنوها هرمونات تستسترون ذكوره صح

verbatim according to source. Translation by the project; the Arabic wording is authoritative.

Translation

Beef cattle are injected with hormones (testosterone/androgens, 'Boldex' - presumably boldenone) and antibiotics to fatten them, so the meat is 'injected'.

Origin

Source status

Video transcript (own words)

Attribution

Elawady (machine transcript)

Video

Dr Diaa Al Awady د ضياء العوضي is live! مصدر الغذاء الوريد البابي (Open source)

Published

27 July 2025

Timestamp

0:49:58 (location in the original video’s automatic YouTube caption track; confirms where the words occur, not who speaks)

Attribution uncertainty

Elawady asks a guest (named as a cattle-farm owner) leading questions; 'بتحنوا' is a likely transcription of 'بتحقنوا' (you inject).

Claimed mechanism

Anabolic steroids and antibiotics as growth promoters.

Claimed health effect

Contaminated meat.

Population concerned

Consumers (Egypt)

Geographic restriction by Elawady

Speaks about local practice; no explicit restriction.

Diverging source versions

Scientific assessment

Unclear / insufficient evidence – The data do not allow an assessment either way.

Certainty of evidence: very low – Any assessment is very uncertain.

1. What was claimed?

Cattle are injected with hormones and antibiotics for fattening.

2. What is demonstrably correct?

Hormonal growth promoters have been used in cattle in some countries; the EU found it necessary to prohibit them (I-RES-02). Antibiotics were used as growth promoters until banned in the EU in 2006 (I-RES-04).

3. What is wrong or exaggerated?

For the EU the claim is not applicable: hormones for growth promotion are prohibited (I-RES-02); vet-drug residue non-compliance was 0.11% (I-RES-07). For Egypt, the extent is undocumented in the literature read; the single Egyptian hormone-residue study (I-RES-09) has major methodological limits.

4. What remains unclear?

Prevalence of illegal anabolic use in Egyptian cattle.

5. Which studies support it?

I-RES-09 (weak).

6. Which studies contradict it?

I-RES-02, I-RES-04, I-RES-07 (EU).

7. What applies to Germany and Europe?

Not applicable to legal EU production.

8. What is known about Egypt?

Data lacking; I-RES-09 calls for monitoring because no national limits are set.

9. What practical conclusion is appropriate?

Data gap for Egypt; not a demonstrated health effect.

Assessment details

Rationale for certainty of evidence

No peer-reviewed data on boldenone or other anabolic steroid residues in Egyptian beef were found in PubMed; one Egyptian ELISA study (n=56 beef, 92 chicken) reported estradiol and testosterone levels it judged above acceptable intakes, but ELISA cannot distinguish natural hormones from administered ones and the study is small.

Source quality

Anecdotal, leading questions to a guest.

Regional transferability

In the EU, hormonal growth promoters are prohibited (Directive 96/22/EC) and antibiotic growth promoters were banned from 1 January 2006 (Reg. 1831/2003).

Regional scope of the claim

refers to Egypt

Last reviewed

25 October 2026 provisional

In plain language

Dr Elawady says cattle are injected with male hormones and antibiotics to make them grow. In the EU, hormones for fattening are banned, and antibiotics as growth promoters have been banned since 2006. For Egypt, almost no reliable data exist. One small Egyptian study reported high hormone levels in meat, but its method cannot tell natural hormones from added ones.

Studies on this claim

Regional context

Germany / EU

Not applicable to legal EU production.

Egypt

Data lacking; I-RES-09 calls for monitoring because no national limits are set.

• Food-safety governance and official controls
• Pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables on the EU/German market (incl. imports from Egypt)
• Pesticide residues in produce sold on the Egyptian domestic market
• Antibiotic (veterinary drug) residues in poultry meat and eggs
• Antimicrobial use in food animals and antibiotic growth promoters
• Hormones in poultry, meat, milk and farmed fish
• Dioxins, PCBs and PFAS in eggs and other animal foods
• Aflatoxin M1 in milk and dairy products
• Aflatoxins in groundnuts (peanuts)
• Heavy metals in fish
• Farmed fish (aquaculture): drugs, water source and controls
• Import controls and the meaning of RASFF notifications for Egyptian products

What applies in my country?

General scientific assessment

Unclear / insufficient evidence Not applicable to the EU; unverified for Egypt.

The following areas of food safety are relevant to this statement:

• Pesticides and pesticide residues
• Veterinary medicines and antibiotics
• Hormonal growth promoters
• Contaminants (heavy metals, PFAS, PCBs, dioxins, nitrate)
• Pathogens (Salmonella, Campylobacter, etc.)

Eggs · Poultry · Dairy · Fish and seafood · Red meat · Fruit and vegetables

Limits: legal rules describe what is allowed, not what every single food contains. Measurement data come from samples and are meaningful only together with their method details.

Country of residence or purchase Compare with another country

References

1. Hormonal residues in chicken and cattle meat: A risk threat the present and future consumer health.. Kamaly HF & Sharkawy AA. Food Chem Toxicol 2023 · PMID 37956705 · DOI 10.1016/j.fct.2023.114172
2. Council Directive 96/22/EC concerning the prohibition on the use in stockfarming of certain substances having a hormonal or thyrostatic action and of beta-agonists. Council of the EU. Official Journal of the EC 1996
3. Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 on additives for use in animal nutrition, Article 11. European Parliament and Council. Official Journal of the EU 2003
4. Report for 2023 on the results from the monitoring of veterinary medicinal product residues and other substances in live animals and animal products (EFSA news: 'Veterinary drug residues in food - non-compliance stays low in 2023'). EFSA. EFSA news 2025