The recent discovery of bone fragments in a shipment of US beef to Taiwan is an isolated incident and does not indicate that US beef products are unsafe, a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) official said on Friday.
The USDA has started an investigation into the case to check for any possible packaging negligence, USDA spokesman Ed Loyd told Taiwan's Central News Agency.
Quarantine inspectors at CKS International Airport discovered rib bone fragments in three cases of imported chilled beef loins on Thursday.
This was the first incident of its kind since Taiwan conditionally reopened its market to US beef imports on Jan. 25.
With the beef found to have been processed by the Nebraskan factory of leading US meat supplier, Tyson Fresh Meats, the Department of Health decided to ban only the company involved rather than all imports.
Hsiao Tung-ming (
The company has been expelled from the list of authorized suppliers, while the health department has also asked the US government to reinforce management regulation measures in their slaughterhouses and processing factories, Hsiao said.
Talking about the problematic imports, Hsiao said that "it does not pose a problem for food safety."
The incident came just three months after the nation reopened its market to US beef under strict regulations that allow only imports of boneless beef from animals under 30 months of age, a measure aimed at protecting consumers against mad cow disease.
Consumer activists yesterday urged the government to re-impose a complete ban on US beef after the discovery of the bone fragment in the shipment because of fears the beef could carry mad cow disease.
The Consumers' Foundation said that the government should re-impose a complete ban on US beef because the presence of ribs in the shipment violated new import rules.
The government's attitude in pleasing the US goes against the interests of public health, the foundation said.
In January, a spine fragment was found in a shipment of US beef exports to Japan, prompting the Japanese government to reinstate a ban on imports of the product, less than two months after a previous ban was lifted.
Loyd said this latest case in Taiwan is different from the one in Japan because the spine is believed to contain risky tissues known to carry the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) virus.
Taiwan banned beef imports from the US in December 2003 after the discovery in Washington State of a single case of BSE.
In April last year, Taiwan lifted the import ban on US boneless beef from animals under 30 months of age.
Imports were once again suspended on June 25 after a second case of mad cow disease was confirmed in the US earlier that month.
The second ban was lifted on Jan. 25 this year.
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