Opposition lawmakers yesterday urged the Democratic Progressive Party-led government not to push through new maximum residue limit (MRL) standards for ractopamine in pork without legislative review.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday announced new MRL standards for ractopamine, a leanness-enhancing additive, in pork products, following President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) announcement on Aug. 28 that the government would ease restrictions on US pork and beef imports from January next year.
Under the standards, pork muscle, skin and fat products would be allowed to have 0.01 parts per million (ppm) of ractopamine, while pork liver and kidney products could contain up to 0.04ppm, the ministry said.
Photo: Wu Su-wei, Taipei Times
Other parts, including hog maw, intestines, heart, tongue, brain and blood, would also be permitted to contain 0.01ppm of the additive, it said.
In 2012, the UN food standards body, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, set MRL standards of ractopamine in pork muscle, skin and fat products at 0.04ppm and at 0.09ppm in liver and kidney products.
At a news conference held shortly after the ministry’s announcement, New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Chen Jiau-Hua (陳椒華) said that the commission had not specified the additive’s MRLs in other organs, even though Taiwanese tend to eat more pig organs than Americans.
A National Cheng Kung University report commissioned by the ministry warned that pregnant women and people who often eat pig organs might consume more ractopamine than they think, but the ministry still allows pig organs to contain ractopamine residue, she said.
The report also failed to present a complete analysis of the effects of ractopamine consumption on people with severe or chronic diseases, she added.
Although Tsai has said that the new standards do not need legislative review, Chen called on Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) to convene cross-caucus negotiations and health committee meetings to review the standards.
NPP Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) asked why the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of National Defense had vowed to protect students and soldiers from consuming pork treated with ractopamine if the additive is as safe as the health ministry says.
The government should not recklessly open up US pork imports without presenting convincing assessments and pork labeling regulations, she said.
Separately, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Charles Chen (陳以信) said that Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) had not tackled the problem at its root.
The problem is that the decision was made without public discussion or the legislature’s approval, he said.
When former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration in 2012 allowed imports of US beef containing ractopamine, the legislature passed an amendment to the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), including a supplementary resolution that requires separate consideration of US beef and pork, and objects to importing pork treated with the additive, Chen said.
Now, the ministry basically accepts the commission’s 2012 standards, except it is imposing stricter MRLs for pork kidney products, he said.
The Tsai administration is imperious in forcibly allowing US pork imports, he said, adding that it is showing no respect for legislative procedure, the legislature’s opinion or social criticism.
Taiwan People’s Party caucus whip Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) questioned whether it is necessary to rush to announce new standards for ractopamine if the policy is to take effect next year.
Many people’s questions remain unanswered and the government is hurting their feeling by acting this way, she added.
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