Taiwan yesterday lifted a ban on beef imports from Canada, effective immediately.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the decision to resume Canadian beef imports was made after prudent assessment which led the agency to believe that risks from eating beef imported from Canada are low.
The agency said that Canada has established a food management mechanism which is trustworthy and is able to minimize risks to consumers who eat Canadian beef.
Taiwan banned imports of Canadian beef products in February last year following confirmation of cases of mad cow disease in Alberta.
FDA Director-General Chiang Yu-mei (姜郁美) said the agency had been assessing the possibility of lifting the ban since September last year.
Chiang said that in November last year the agency sent a delegation to Canada to check whether beef products were safe.
The delegation’s report pointed to an “ok” for Canadian beef imports and then called a meeting in March to consult with food experts on the matter, she said.
The experts who attended the meeting agreed that as long as Taiwan tightens monitoring of beef imports from Canada, the risks from eating Canadian beef are expected to be controlled, she said.
After inter-ministerial discussions, the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Wednesday informed the FDA of a consensus to lift the ban, she added.
FDA Food Safety Division Director Pan Chih-kuan (潘志寬) said the government has issued some principles to ensure the safety of beef imports from Canada.
First, imports of beef should come from cows whose health has been guaranteed by Canadian government-certified veterinarians, without any concerns that the cows have been exposed to mad cow disease, Pan said.
The cows should be less than 30 months old and skulls, bones, brains, eyes and visceral organs cannot be imported, he said, adding that ground beef cannot be imported either.
Pan said that the government would tighten its screening of all of beef imports.
Pan said that Canadian beef only accounted for 0.7 percent of Taiwan’s total beef imports, adding that between 2012 and last year, beef imports from Canada totaled about 2,700 tonnes.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
RSS