Sixty-nine percent of respondents in a poll opposed allowing imports of US pork containing ractopamine, while only 23 percent were in favor, the National Policy Foundation think tank said yesterday.
The poll, which the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-backed foundation commissioned Taiwan Real Survey to conduct from Tuesday to Thursday, asked people aged 20 or older whether they feared a food safety crisis if imports of US pork containing the leanness-enhancing additive were to enter Taiwan, with 72.2 percent of respondents saying yes.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Aug. 28 announced that the government would set standards for ractopamine residue in US pork, lifting an import ban.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The new policy is to take effect on Jan. 1 next year.
The poll also showed that 45.9 percent of respondents said that they had faith in the Tsai administration’s promise to enforce strict measures requiring clear labeling of country of origin on meat products, with 43.3 percent saying that they did not.
Twenty-seven percent said they believed a government promise that lifting the ban would not affect sales of locally produced pork, while 67.6 percent did not, the poll showed.
It said that 58 percent would not tolerate any trace of ractopamine in US pork imports, while 37.5 percent would accept minute traces.
Asked whether they agreed that Taiwan must lift the ban to facilitate more trade agreements with the US, 28.9 percent said yes, while 65.3 percent disagreed, it showed.
The poll showed that 29.9 percent agreed with Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung’s (陳時中) remarks that lifting the ban would improve Taiwan’s international status, while 63.6 percent disapproved.
Regarding a KMT signature drive for a referendum to overturn the lifting of the import ban, 60.3 percent said that they backed the effort, while 32.1 percent opposed it, the poll showed.
The poll garnered 1,094 valid samples, with responses weighted to fit the population profile, the National Policy Foundation said.
It had a margin of error of 2.96 percentage points.
Separately, the Taiwan People’s Party’s (TPP) legislators gathered in front of the Legislative Yuan’s assembly hall yesterday to protest the lifting of the ban.
TPP caucus whip Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) said that the government based its standards for ractopamine residue in US pork on data provided by the Codex Alimentariu Commission, but a 2004 study cited by the commission included only six male participants.
That sample size means that the study has no statistical credibility, Lai said.
About 160 nations, including Russia and EU members, do not recognize the commission’s standards and ban the use of ractopamine in pig farming, she said.
“On what grounds does the government accept the commission’s standards?” she asked.
The TPP would hold lectures across the nation this month and next month to explain the health risks of ractopamine to the public, Lai said.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun
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