The US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) yesterday rebutted local media reports that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) had told it to halt all beef exports given the Taiwanese government’s tight control over the product.
“USMEF is a private organization and thus we are not able to speak on behalf of the government. Our duty is to inform meat vendors and retailers of the new [USDA] regulation that went into effect on Nov. 2, but we have never said anything about halting all US meat imports into Taiwan,” said Davis Wu (吳秋衡), director of the USMEF office in Taipei.
QUALITY
Wu was referring to a USDA announcement that all US meat establishments that wish to sell beef and beef products to Taiwan must adopt the new quality assessment regulations by Nov. 2 or else their products would be prohibited from entering the Taiwanese market.
Over the weekend, the USDA published a list of US meat plants that have met the new requirements and been deemed qualified to export boneless meat from cattle younger than 30 months to the country, Wu said.
Moreover, an update on the USDA Web site on Friday stated that deboned beef from cattle born and raised in the US, cattle raised in the US for at least 100 days prior to slaughter, or cattle legally imported into the US from a country deemed eligible by Taiwan could be exported to Taiwan.
Wu said that an announcement on the import of US meat older than 30 months would be made in the near future.
CONFIDENCE
“I am very confident of the safety of US beef. Each year the US only exports 7 percent of its beef, while the large majority of it is used by domestic consumers,” he said. “The US government has very strict rules on what is considered to be safe for human consumption.”
The American Institute in Taiwan declined to make any comments when asked about the local media reports, except to say that boneless beef from cattle under 30 months old is eligible for export to Taiwan as stated on the USDA Web site.
Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) also denied there had been any changes regarding US beef imports.
Bureau of Food Safety Director Lin Sheue-rong (林雪蓉) said the DOH had not received any complaints from the US about the matter.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG
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