The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus yesterday panned Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) for stating that Taiwan should adopt Japan and South Korea’s standards for ractopamine in imported pork as a reference when asked in Sunday’s televised presidential debate about the possibility of opening the market to pork from the US with the leanness-enhancing additive.
When asked on Sunday whether she would agree to the US’ condition that imported pork containing ractopamine be allowed as a prerequisite for Taiwan to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Tsai said she would use Japan’s and South Korea’s legal limits on the amount of the leanness-enhancing feed additive as a reference, as the two countries have eating habits similar to that of Taiwan, while prohibiting the use of the additive in domestically produced pork products for product differentiation.
When pressed by reporters in a post-debate news conference on whether what she said during the debate indicates that the ban on US pork containing ractopamine would be lifted under certain conditions, Tsai said it was too early to say.
KMT caucus deputy whip Alicia Wang (王育敏) yesterday said the DPP had objected to imports of US beef, demanding “zero detected ractopamine.”
“Now the DPP caucus has fallen asleep and no one dares to say anything against it,” she said.
“Given that Taiwanese consume more pork products than beef, following Japan’s and South Korea’s standards would result in excessive ractopamine consumption, which would seriously damage public health. Therefore, we cannot yield on this matter,” Wang said.
“On July 25, 2012, the DPP caucus motioned an attached resolution to legislation allowing imports of US beef calling for different measures to be taken for imported beef and imported pork. Tsai’s proposal to follow Japan’s and South Korea’s standards would violate the resolution,” she added.
Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji (陳保基) said that producing pork with the leanness-enhancing feed additive can lower costs, meaning that allowing imports of pork with ractopamine, if sold at a dumping price, would hurt domestic pig farmers.
“About 70 percent of the world’s pig-farming industries refuse to use ractopamine. Why would Taiwan need to accept pork products containing additives?” he asked, adding that Taiwan imports ractopamine-free pork from Denmark, the Netherlands and the US.
In response, the DPP said that it is “too early to decide on the pork imports issue, which might come up during trade negotiations.”
“The DPP believes that international standards and other nations’ experiences need to be taken into consideration when dealing with the inspection, import and export of agricultural products,” it said.
“At the same time, risk evaluation, management and communication would be rigorously performed and domestic farmers’ interests protected,” it added.
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