Officials from the Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday said that their agency, along with customs officials and inspectors from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), were prepared for shipments of bone-in US beef that are expected to arrive within the next few days
The agency reassured consumers that the controversial beef products arriving from the US would include certificates of Quality System Assessments (QSA) from the US Department of Agriculture, along with the checks and analyses conducted by domestic authorities.
However, council officials said that the checks and analyses were going to be focused on chemicals and agricultural pollutants rather than prions, which are the cause of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) — or mad cow disease.
PHOTO: CNA
They said that this was because the imported parts do not include brain matter, where the prions are found.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said last month that the Department of Health would establish a mandatory insurance plan for consumers to be paid by importers of the bone-in beef.
Despite these guarantees, domestic retailers have remained hesitant about importing the bone-in products.
Representatives from the four largest domestic retailers — Carrefour, RT-mart, Geant and Costco — said that as US boneless beef was already selling well in comparison with beef from other origins, they had no immediate plans to import other varieties of bone-in beef.
Furthermore, the majority of imported beef will continue to originate from New Zealand and Australia; two locations where no cases of BSE have ever been reported.
The import of US bone-in beef, ground beef, bovine intestines, brains, spinal cords and processed beef from cattle younger than 30 months that have not been contaminated with “specific risk materials” have been allowed into Taiwan since the beginning of this month.
Council officials said that imported beef could arrive on store shelves and in restaurants as early as “four to seven days” after the first shipment arrives.
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