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.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
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