Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) yesterday downplayed speculation that test results suggesting local pig farmers have been using illegal -leanness-enhancing feed additives —- at a time when opposition to US beef imports containing ractopamine residue is running high — was a plot to discredit the opponents of easing restrictions on US beef imports.
There was no need to speculate based on “bold imagination,” Chen said in response to reporters’ inquiries about test results released by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) on Tuesday.
Tsai publicized the results of a test apparently conducted by I-Mei Foods Co’s (義美食品) food safety laboratory which showed seven out of 10 local pork-related products were found to contain traces of salbutamol and cimaterol, which Tsai said are more toxic than ractopamine, which is used by US farmers as a feed additive for cattle.
Chen said he appreciated the information provided to the government by “enthusiastic folks,” but the government had not found any cases of illegal additives during nationwide Department of Health and Council of Agriculture testing of pork products, he said.
The government does not seek to discredit the information provided by Tsai, but it believes those were “isolated cases,” he said.
Chen said the tests conducted by government agencies better reflect the situation that most local pig farmers do not use the feed additives.
After the test results were released by Tsai, KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) criticized local pig farmers when questioning the premier during a question-and-answer session at the legislature on Tuesday.
“Isn’t it a joke that [leanness-enhancing feed additives] are also being used in this country?” Lin said, adding that local pig farmers, who had staged a rally opposing lifting the import ban on US beef containing residues of ractopamine last week, “should clear their names of these allegations before taking to the streets.”
Tsai denied he was attempting to discredit the government’s opponents.
He said he obtained the test results on Thursday and only decided to make them public after the United Daily News reported on Tuesday that I-Mei president Kao Chih-ming (高志明) had confirmed that the company’s laboratory had detected a case in which locally produced pork was found to contain traces of salbutamol.
While the laboratory declined to reveal the identity of the client who sent 10 pork products for testing, Tsai said the laboratory had been commissioned by a medical institution, but he did not name it.
The Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan and the Chinese--language weekly Next Magazine also received copies of the test results, Tsai said.
Tsai denied the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) was involved in the test, although the test result “happened to prove” an accusation made by AIT Director William Stanton during an interview with the Central News Agency last week that feed additives are also used by Taiwanese farmers.
“I have had nothing to do with the US,” Tsai said.
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