The legislature yesterday sent 10 draft bills on the use of leanness enhancers to one of its committees, which is set to deliberate on each proposal next week.
In addition to the 10 bills submitted by ruling and opposition lawmakers, the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee had received four bills — including one proposed by the People First Party — on Friday last week.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆), one of the committee’s conveners, said the committee would review bills on amending the food safety law on Wednesday.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The use of ractopamine, a feed additive banned in Taiwan and many other countries, but allowed in the US, has been a subject of hot debate, especially after the Cabinet announced late on Monday night that it was planning to conditionally relax its ban on imports of US beef containing the drug.
Among the bills sent for review yesterday, those submitted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus and several DPP lawmakers, along with one put forward by KMT Legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環), proposed a zero-tolerance stance on the level of leanness enhancers for meat products.
Bills submitted by DPP legislators Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) and Chiu Chin-wei (邱志偉) called for mandatory labeling of drug residue levels on meat products and for the point of origin of products tol also be disclosed.
In addition, a bill by Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) would give the legislature the power to review safety levels for pesticide and drug residue in food.
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TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern
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