本週文章2
本週文章2-Beef
Beef to be inspected lot-by-lot: DOH
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2012/03/16/2003527893
RACTOPAMINE UPROAR:The inspections might contravene WTO rules and invite retaliation, and the government is testing local pork said to contain banned additives
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff Reporter
Activists demonstrate outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei yesterday against US beef imports.
Photo: CAN
Beef imports will be subject to lot-by-lot inspection for customs clearance starting on Monday to assuage public concern over the safety of residues of the banned feed additive ractopamine, Department of Health (DOH) Deputy Minister Hsiao Mei-ling (蕭美玲) said yesterday.
Before its implementation, the government will send a notification to the WTO about the measure and communicate with the diplomatic corps about the policy, Hsiao told a press conference held at the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus office.
“In principle, lot-by-lot inspection will apply to all beef imports, regardless of country of origin,” Hsiao said, adding that the initiative opens the possibility of trade retaliation.
However, Hsiao said the nation lacked scientific evidence about health risks associated with the consumption of beef containing ractopamine and that the lot-by-lot inspections would be incompatible with WTO rules.
Applying lot-by-lot inspection is also unfair to beef-exporting countries with good track records, Hsiao said, but “we have to do this, given the incidents of beef products on the shelves found to contain ractopamine and public worries about their safety.”
Under current regulations, after one violation, inspection frequency is increased to between 20 and 50 percent of a violator’s imports from the regular 2 to 5 percent, and further elevated[i] to lot-by-lot inspections after two violations.
On pork products, Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Wang Cheng-teng (王政騰) told the press conference that 97 percent of the nation’s pig farmers have already signed affidavits pledging that they do not use any lean meat feed additives.
Wang rejected a suggestion made by KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) that the council make public the names of pig farmers who did not sign the affidavit because it was not allowed under the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法).
“However, we are working on it,” Wang said, adding the council will introduce rules into the Veterinary Drugs Control Act (動物用藥品管理法) to allow the council to publicize the names of livestock farmers who are found violating regulations.
The food safety scare involving lean meat additives spread from US beef containing ractopamine to locally produced pork products after KMT Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) on Tuesday released test results reportedly conducted by I-Mei Foods Co’s food safety laboratory that found traces of salbutamol and cimaterol in some pork items.
The test results were not recognized by the DOH because the laboratory is not one of the institutions entrusted by the government to conduct such tests.
Items from the batch[ii] of products found to contain salbutamol and cimaterol were all removed from shelves and some of the items were sent to a government-certified laboratory for testing, Food and Drug Administration Director-General Kang Jaw-jou (康照洲) said.
The results could be expected in one or two days, he added.
Tsai said yesterday that he has learned local farmers have been feeding lean meat-enhancing additives to their ducks?, but he did not provide evidence.
Meanwhile, Premier Sean Chen yesterday instructed Vice Premier Jiang Yi-hua (江宜樺) to form a task force to coordinate the relevant government departments to handle food safety scares and prepare proposals to improve the food safety management system.
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