President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday in her New Year’s Day speech asked Taiwanese for understanding over the government’s decision to open up to imports of US pork containing traces of ractopamine.
Although the animal feed additive is banned for use in pigs in Taiwan, because of concerns over its safety to animals and humans, lawmakers on Thursday last week approved administrative directives related to the government’s decision to lift restrictions on the import of US pork containing traces of ractopamine and US beef from cattle older than 30 months.
The changes, effective yesterday, are widely viewed as an effort by the government to satisfy US prerequisites for negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Tsai said that Taiwan “depends on trade to survive” and had resolved to move forward on a policy that had been “left pending by three successive administrations.”
“With utmost humility, I ask my fellow citizens for your understanding and hope everyone knows that we thought long and hard before we made this decision,” she said.
Tsai defended the policy not only in terms of trade, but also geopolitics.
In response, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that the government did not consult the public or opposition parties before announcing the lifting of the ban, and gave local governments just seven days to prepare for the new regulations.
The Executive Yuan’s announcement on Thursday that it was nullifying local government ordinances banning meat products containing traces of ractopamine was “calculated, conspiratorial and without humility,” Ko said.
“The people are watching. It does not matter what you say, it is what you do,” he said.
Ko was speaking during a visit to a “ractopamine-free pork” section of a Carrefour hypermarket, which was established after the Taipei City Government passed ordinances requiring importers to test pork for the substance and stores to label pork products.
Carrefour, RT-Mart, Costco and Breeze are among 11 retailer chains operating in the city that have set up “ractopamine-free pork” sections in their stores, the Taipei Department of Health said.
Officials are to increase a random inspections program at food courts, street food vendors and markets, the department said, adding that false labeling would result in a fine of up to NT$4 million (US$140,311) under the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法).
New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday visited a “ractopamine-free cuisine” section of the Global Mall at Banciao Railway Station.
New Taipei City last month announced ordinances mandating ractopamine labels for nine types of vendors and the regulations would be implemented in stages, Hou said.
In the first stage, the rules apply to Western fast-food franchises, restaurants and caterers serving 20 tables or more, supermarkets serving prepared food or beverages prepared on site and bakery franchises, he said.
In the second half of the year, the city expects to broaden the regulations to include food courts at hospitals, breakfast chains, convenience stores and hypermarkets serving prepared food or beverages prepared on site, and department store food courts, he said.
“It is a done deal that pork imports containing ractopamine is allowed, but I beseech the president to tell the Executive Yuan to mandate that pork products with ractopamine should be labeled, so that the public’s right to know is protected,” Hou said.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing
RSS