The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday called on the government to close a legal loophole that allows the import of what it alleges are high-risk beef products from the US.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Friday that cow tongues, penises, testes, tails, tendons and skirts derived from cattle less than 30 months of age slaughtered on or after April 1 would be eligible for export to Taiwan.
The announcement can be found in full at www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/Taiwan_Requirements/index.asp.
PHOTO: CNA
Media reports said an unnamed company had already received permission from the Bureau of Foreign Trade for the import of 453kg of beef products, including tongues and ground beef.
Despite Department of Health (DOH) assurances that the products covered by the USDA announcement would be allowed because they were not classified as offal and covered by an existing legislative ban on high-risk beef parts from the US, DPP lawmakers were not satisfied and they asked Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) to sign a declaration that the import licenses for cow tongues would be canceled at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee.
DPP Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) said that statements released by the American Institute in Taiwan had categorized both tongues and tails as offal.
The legislature amended the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) on Jan. 5 so that beef products from countries with documented cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, over the past decade could not be imported.
The amendment effectively barred US ground beef, beef offal and other beef parts, such as the skull, eyes and intestines from access to the Taiwanese market, contravening a bilateral protocol signed by Taiwan and the US in October last year.
Minor scuffles between Shih and DPP lawmakers Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) and Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) broke out later as the pair attempted to block Shih from getting into his vehicle after he refused to sign the proposed declaration.
A statement released later yesterday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said: “The lawmakers should act responsibly and they should not have tried to force government officials to sign documents.”
At a press conference held after the legislative hearing, however, DPP caucus members criticized the government for telling “an absolute lie” and noted a statement dated Oct. 29, 2009, in which DOH Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) clearly stated that cow tongues were classified as beef innards and would be covered under the ban.
“Our government agencies are trying to play word games with us and allow the import of these high-risk [beef products] via a legislative loophole,” DPP Spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said.
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡) described the USDA announcement as a “unilateral” move.
“I believe this was a unilateral move taken by the US. [The US] should have informed government officials prior to the announcement, but the US did not consult us,” Shen said during a question-and-answer session with legislators at the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.
Shen said the ministry would negotiate with the US if there were a substantial difference in Taipei’s and Washington’s interpretations of the import protocol both sides signed last year.
The DOH assured the public on Saturday that cow tongues would be subject to the most rigorous inspections because of the higher risk associated with them, while other beef parts would be subject to the “5 percent examination’ rule — the same level as for US bone-in beef that has already been cleared for import.
Shen said the US does not believe the beef import controversy is over, even if Taiwan has given US bone-in beef the green light.
He said the ministry’s job was to prevent the issue from jeopardizing other exchanges between Taiwan and the US, including US arms sales to Taipei.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) said the USDA could be trying to display to the US beef industry its resolution to reinforce the protocol signed with Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the Council of Agriculture (COA), the MOEA and the DOH held a joint press conference yesterday to announce details of the checks that would be performed on the beef products approved for import.
The beef parts would be imported in accordance with the amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation, DOH Vice Minister Hsiao Mei-ling (蕭美玲) told reporters.
“The DOH has consulted with academics and experts to make sure that the beef parts to be imported are not internal organs and therefore are permitted,” she said.
Officials said the tongues imported from the US would undergo extremely rigorous examination. Cow tongues must have the circumvallate papillae and tonsils, which are located at the root of the tongue, removed.
The parts are controversial because humans exposed to them are at higher risk of contracting BSE.
“Any cow tongues that are found to contain such high-risk parts will be destroyed and only those that pass the testing will undergo inspections for bacteria and antibiotics,” said Hsu Tien-lai (??, chief of the COA’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine.
Only beef parts that meet all the requirements of the Act would be issued an import permit. Beef parts in violation of the Act would be returned, he said.
MOEA statistics show that more than 210,000kg of bone-in beef have already been imported from the US since the protocol with Washington was signed in October last year.
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