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Consumers' Foundation demands beef be destroyed

Out of concern that public fears over US beef might flare again in Taiwan following a second confirmation of mad cow disease in the US, the Consumers' Foundation (CF) yesterday demanded that the government publicly destroy all US beef that has been imported to Taiwan.

CF Vice Chairman Chen Hung-jen (程宏仁), who visited various hypermarkets earlier yesterday, said that his foundation can help retailers ask for compensation from the Department of Health (DOH) if they are willing to take these products off the shelves.

The DOH immediately reimposed a ban on US beef imports on Saturday, after a second mad-cow-disease case in the US was confirmed. The DOH removed the restriction in April this year following a 14-month ban after the first case in the US was reported in late 2003.

CF Secretary General Huang Yi-teng (黃怡騰) said that the government must fully assume responsibility for the two-month legal loophole that it created and insisted that the government should come up with specific measures to deal with risky beef from the US by asking retailers to recall their products and compensate them for their losses for the sake of public health.

The government must respond to the US beef in question because it is very difficult for the general public to trace the origin of the meat they eat if they were said to be from other countries, he said.

Meanwhile, local hypermarket managers said that the sale of US beef in their shops have not been affected despite the news of a second mad-cow disease case in the US, in sharp contrast to the general assumption that US beef will be rejected by Taiwan consumers.

However, the managers said that they will replace US beef with beef from Australia and New Zealand after the current stock from the US is used up late next month at the earliest.

They pointed out that they will increase supplies of Australian and New Zealand beef in the near future given that Taiwan consumers have been gradually getting used to products from the two countries over the past two years.

Before the first mad-cow-disease case in the US, American beef enjoyed about a 70 percent share in the domestic market, well ahead of some 30 percent taken by beef from Australia and New Zealand, they said, adding, however, that the ratio had dropped to around 50 percent after the initial ban.

They predicted that the follow-up effects in the domestic market will not surface until next week despite the fact that the Taiwan market remains little affected for the time being.
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