Although pet food from China is not approved for import, made-in-China pet treats have found their way onto store shelves.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday advised pet owners to look for the "Made in China" label on packages of pet food.
Holding up a packet of meat strips labeled "Made in the PRC," TSU chief of communications Chou Mei-li (
"In addition to finding products labeled as from the PRC, we also found products with no information about their origin, as well as products that were past the expiry date," Chou said.
"We have to consider the health of our animals," Chou said. "We don't want a repeat of the tainted pet food episode in the US."
Chou was referring to the deaths of an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 dogs and cats earlier this year caused by tainted Chinese pet food.
Johnson Chiang (江世明), the president of the Taiwan Veterinary Medical Association, called on the Council of Agriculture (COA) to increase its regulation of pet food imports.
"Right now we treat food for all animals the same, so the standards for the food you give your dog or cat are the same as for farm animals," Chiang said.
Contaminated or spoiled food can have deadly consequences, Chiang said, citing a case of contaminated dog food sold under the PAL brand that killed up to 10,000 animals nationwide.
"If the ingredients have become moldy, the animal is ingesting toxins that could cause liver or kidney failure," Chiang said.
An official with the COA's quarantine bureau told the Taipei Times that it is legal to import pet chews made of animal hide from China, but not meat, because of the risk of foot-and-mouth and other illnesses spreading from China.
"We do import from other countries where these diseases are endemic, but only after a factory inspection," said the official who declined to be identified. "However, we have yet to receive a request for a factory inspection from the Chinese government."
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