Taiwan Quick Take: Lawmakers to inspect beef

A legislative committee reviewing the government's policy on US beef imports decided yesterday to send a delegation to the US late next month to inspect the raising, slaughtering and exporting processes of beef cattle. The committee will request that the Department of Health provide the committee with written materials related to the creation of the policy and has invited Hsieh Hsien-tang (謝顯堂), a research fellow at the National Health Research Institute, to brief the committee on mad cow disease. In addition, the committee will hire experts to serve as consultants to assist with the review. The discovery of bone fragments in a shipment to Taiwan in April has raised doubts over the government's decision to reopen its market to US beef.