Meat products with even minute levels of lean-meat agents cannot be sold in Taiwan and there will be no discussion of revising regulations in the foreseeable future, the Department of Health said yesterday.
The US postponed resuming of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) earlier this year after Taiwan in January banned US beef imports that contained traces of ractopamine, an animal feed additive to promote lean meat, and removed products from the shelves.
The department yesterday reiterated that it would not relax existing restrictions on the drug’s use until an internationally recognized level is establish or before a consensus had been reached among related government agencies.
“Current regulations still view lean-meat additives in meat products as prohibited,” said Feng Ren-lan (馮潤蘭), a deputy section chief at the department’s Food and Drug Administration. “In the foreseeable future, the department will not discuss changing the standards with the Council of Agriculture or experts on the subject.”
Health officials said US beef products that are to be imported to Taiwan must adhere to Taiwan’s Food Hygiene Management Act (食品衛生管理法), meaning there is no room for even miniscule levels of ractopamine in meat products.
In January, some US beef products were taken off the shelves at local supermarkets after they were found to contain trace amounts of ractopamine, which prompted the US to postpone a trade meeting with Taiwan.
American Institute in Taiwan spokesman Christopher Kavanagh said yesterday the US hasn’t changed its position that it would like to see Taiwan “implement the agreement” on beef trade signed by both countries and “use scientific standards” for beef safety.
“The conditions are not appropriate for resuming the TIFA talks,” Kavanagh said when asked if the US’ position can be interpreted to infer that the US will not agree to reopening negotiation sunless Taipei revises its zero-tolerance policy on ractopmaine.
At a separate setting yesterday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of North American Affair Director-General Bruce Linghu (令狐榮達) said his agency hope that the US could detach the two issues because TIFA covers a wide range of mutual interests for Taiwan and the US.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching