The Taiwan Swine Association expressed strong opposition to imports of US pork containing traces of the leanness-enhancing agent ractopamine, saying that it would not change its position unless scientific evidence proves that such meat poses no health risk.
“We will stand against [such imports] to the end,” association secretary-general Chang Sheng-chin (張生金) said.
The Agricultural Technology Research Institute has been studying the impact of the use of leanness-enhancing drugs on pigs, while the Ministry of Health and Welfare has been running a health safety assessment on consumption of pork containing ractopamine, Chang said.
At the moment, all members of his association insist that the government must uphold the ban on imports of US pork containing traces of ractopamine, Chang said.
The industry renewed its strong opposition to US pork imports as Taiwan and US officials were engaging in a trade dialogue in Taipei.
The US International Trade Commission in a trade report published on Tuesday said that at a meeting between Taiwan and the US under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement platform last year, the two sides agreed that more progress was needed on a broad range of agricultural trade issues.
“The United States was mostly concerned about the degree to which biotechnology plays a role in Taiwan’s agricultural trade policies, and expressed strong interest that Taiwan remove bans on US pork and certain beef products produced using ractopamine,” the report said.
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