The Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) yesterday called for companies to adopt new animal welfare policies for pigs, including banning live pig auctions.
The group also rated eight retail channels based on their friendliness to pig welfare.
Taiwan consumes 7.4 million pigs annually, but about 6 million, or 83 percent, pass through live auctions in meat markets around the country, EAST chief executive Chune Fang-chu (寸舫筑) said.
Photo: CNA
If supermarkets switch to selling pork directly transported from farms to slaughterhouses, the number of auctioned pigs could drop by 800,000 to about 72 percent, Chune said.
That could inspire food companies and restaurant chains to adopt similar policies, Chune added.
Since 2016, EAST has advocated for the government to replace the auctions with a pig carcass grading system, like in the US, Japan, South Korea and Europe.
This saves the pig from the auction process and having to pass through multiple stages of transportation, and ensures high quality, hygienic pork for consumers, Chune said.
EAST ranked eight major retailers on three factors, each worth three points for a total of nine.
The three factors were the proportion of live-auction pork to non-auction pork, policies of pork sourcing from other channels and pig welfare procurement policies.
Carrefour ranked first with four points, followed by City’super at second, and a three-way tie between Mia C’bon, Costco and Simple Mart in third place.
RT-Mart, PX Mart and A-Mart came in last place, the group said.
Only 21 of 60 surveyed pork products came from pigs not subject to live auctions, and most retailers lacked policies on avoiding live-auction pork or comprehensive animal welfare procurement policies, it said.
The group urged retailers to adopt new policies and exclude purchases of live-auction pork to help improve the welfare and treatment of millions of pigs in Taiwan.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe