The government said yesterday it would not give up restrictions it imposes on imported beef, after a warning by US lawmakers that the issue could cripple free-trade talks. Shipments of US beef were pulled from store shelves last month after they were found to contain a drug, Paylean, used to promote leanness in animals raised for meat.
“The restrictions are in place in accordance with the laws to protect public health and they are not aimed at the US. We will continue to enforce the regulations,” Department of Health spokesperson Wang Che-chao (王哲超) said.
Top US lawmakers urged -President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Thursday to roll back what they branded unscientific restrictions on US beef exports and warned the issue could cripple free-trade talks.
“The scientific evidence is clear that US beef is safe and that there is no food-safety justification for these actions,” said the chairmen and ranking members of two US congressional committees with broad sway over trade matters.
“We urge you to take prompt corrective measures to restore trade and avoid further damage to our bilateral trade relations,” they wrote in a letter made public by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat.
The top Republican on his panel, Senator Orrin Hatch, House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp and the top Democrat on that panel, Representative Sander Levin, also signed the letter.
The lawmakers warned of “serious negative consequences” for bilateral trade, and said a solution was needed “to begin to restore the confidence necessary” to resume trade talks on hold since 2007.
Taiwan pulled shipments of US beef from store shelves last month after they were found to contain a drug, Paylean, used to promote leanness in animals raised for meat. Taiwan restricts Paylean because of possible human health risks associated with the ingredient ractopamine, but 26 countries, including the US, Canada, Australia and Brazil, have declared the product safe.
The US lawmakers said in their letter that Taiwan had effectively “recognized the safety of ractopamine” when its Department of Health wrote to the WTO in 2007 to say it planned to set what amounted to a ceiling on the amount of residue permitted in cattle and swine.
Beef exports from the US — Taiwan’s main source — “have ground to a halt” the lawmakers said, warning that “Taiwan’s scientifically unjustified policy” was also hurting sales of US pork.
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