The Council of Agriculture (COA) issued a statement yesterday announcing that the ban on the use of the pig feed additive
ractopamine would soon be lifted. However, no firm dates have been set for the lifting of the ban. Department of Health (DOH) officials said the department is ready to put in place maximum allowable residue levels for ractopamine as soon as the COA unbans the
substance."
The move represents a dramatic turnaround as officials said earlier this month they would crack down on the use of the additive.
DOH officials said a consensus was reached after a panel of 19 experts were consulted on the safety of ractopamine use.
"In the end, we have to respect the opinion of experts on food safety," said Huang Kuo-ching (
The DOH said the proposed maximum allowable residue levels in pork and beef were 10 parts per billion (ppb) for muscle and fatty tissue, 40ppb in liver and 90ppb in kidney.
However, Huang said the COA had not set a firm date for the lifting of the ban. The DOH, in turn, said it could not finalize the allowable residue limit for ractopamine while the ban is still in place.
Ractopamine, an additive used to promote the growth of lean meat, became an issue last month when two shipments of US pork were found to contain residues of less than 1ppb of the banned substance. Marketed under the trade name "Paylean" by pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, the additive is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Subsequent testing of domestic pork revealed the presence of ractopamine in three out of 43 samples, the Bureau of Food Sanitation (BFS) said.
On Aug. 4, Yeh Ying (
BFS Director Cheng Huei-wen (鄭慧文) denied charges that pressure had been brought to bear by US interests to lift the ban on ractopamine in order to smooth the way for continued US pork imports.
Cheng also denied that footage broadcast by CTI-TV showed American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) personnel visiting the BFS office yesterday.
"Those were not AIT personnel at all, but representatives of an American rice grower's association," he said, adding that AIT personnel last visited the BFS office on Aug. 2.
Objecting to the decision to lift the ban, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus yesterday urged Cheng to step down and threatened to freeze the BFS' budget.
"Ractopamine is banned in about 160 countries. Only 24 countries permit its use," TSU Legislator Yin Ling-ying (尹伶瑛) said.
"Some people claim the nation should lift restrictions on ractopamine in order to be `connected to the world,' but the TSU caucus believes the regulation should not be relaxed because we have to safeguard the rights of consumers," Yin said.
Yang Her-pei (楊河北), a representative of a local pig farmers' association, said he could not understand why the DOH planned to lift the ban when there was evidence that ractopamine posed a health threat.
"China and the European Union also forbid the use of ractopamine ... It is very hard not to speculate that the DOH wants to lift the ban to benefit US pork exporters," he said.
Representatives of the associations threatened to stage demonstrations in front of the DOH and the council next Tuesday if health officials fail to offer a "reasonable" explanation for their lifting of the ban.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
TWO HEAVYWEIGHTS: Trump and Xi respect each other, are in a unique position to do something great, and they want to do that together, the US envoy to China said The administration of US President Donald Trump has told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “we don’t want any coercion, but we want [the Taiwan dispute] resolved peacefully,” US ambassador to China David Perdue said in a TV interview on Thursday. Trump “has said very clearly, we are not changing the ‘one China’ policy, we are going to adhere to the Taiwan Relations Act, the three communiques and the ‘six assurances’ that were done under [former US president Ronald] Reagan,” Perdue told Joe Kernen, cohost of CNBC’s Squawk Box. The act, the Three Joint Communiques and the “six assurances” are guidelines for Washington
DEEPENING TIES: The two are boosting cooperation in response to China’s coercive actions and have signed MOUs on search-and-rescue and anti-smuggling efforts Taiwan and Japan are moving to normalize joint coast guard training and considering the inclusion of other allies, the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. Both nations’ coast guards in June sent vessels to the seas south of the Sakishima Islands to conduct joint training, the report said, adding that it was the second joint maritime training exercise since the nations severed formal diplomatic ties in September 1972. Japan dispatched the Nagoya Coast Guard’s Mizuho, a 134m, 6,000-tonne patrol vessel which can carry a helicopter, while the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sent the 126m, 4,000-tonne Yunlin, one of its largest vessels, the report
RSS