Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and People First Party Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) have proposed a bill that bans ractopamine-laced pork and genetically modified food from school meals.
Chiang and Chen said the proposal aims to ensure the wellbeing of schoolchildren, who have no choice over what they eat at lunches provided by school administrations.
Chiang said although the Codex Alimentarius Commission has set a limit on beta-agonist residues in beef and pork, the European Commission has banned any trace of ractopamine in food for domestic consumption.
Ractopamine is an additive used to induce leanness in animals. Taiwan banned the use of leanness-enhancing additives in meat products, but, under pressure from the US, the legislature in 2012 voted 63 to 46 to lift the ban on importing US beef containing traces of ractopamine and the following year the government amended food safety regulations to allow imports of beef that contains less than 10 parts per billion of ractopamine.
Chiang said the incoming government might be forced to open the market to US pork that contains ractopamine.
“Though we might be able to mandate the labeling of such pork, thus allowing adult consumers to avoid buying or eating imported pork, schoolchildren do not have a choice,” he said on Sunday.
He said he has found that pork is widely used in school meals.
“If ractopamine-laced pork is imported, school caterers’ costs of pork products would be cut by half. If it is used in meals for children I fear their physical development might be adversely affected,” Chiang said.
Chiang and Chen are proposing to amend the School Health Act (學校衛生法), which was revised last year to outlaw the use of genetically modified food and primary processed food in school lunches, Chiang added.
“For the sake of children’s health, particularly during the time when they are growing fast, we urge our colleagues to add a provision to the act that bans the use of meat containing any beta-agonists, including ractopamine,” Chiang said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai