Taiwan has no plans to ease import restrictions on U.S. beef

Central News Agency

2008-11-15 12:47 AM

Taiwan News

The Department of Health (DOH) reiterated Friday that existing restrictions on U.S. beef imports will remain in place, despite a recent U.S. call for Taiwan to fully open its market.

According to DOH Minister Yeh Ching-chuan, the DOH has no plans to review the restrictions, which ban the entry of all kinds of U.S. beef products except for boneless beef from cattle under 30 months old.

Taiwan banned U.S. beef in early 2004 and again in June 2005 after separate cases of mad cow disease were confirmed in U.S.-raised cattle, but Taipei later allowed the entry of boneless beef from young cattle when it was determined such meat would not pose a health risk.

In a news confence held Wednesday, Stephen Young, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, again reassured Taiwan of the safety of U.S. beef and urged Taiwan to "make a science-based decision."

Also Friday, Yeh denied the DOH's proposed revision to standards on veterinary drug residues -- which would set a maximum allowable level of ractopamine residue in pork -- is aimed at opening Taiwan's market to ractopamine-tainted U.S. pork.

Yeh said the DOH has proposed establishing a standard for ractopamine residue in livestock because such a standard does not exist, which may result in confusion.

According to a proposal unveiled by the DOH Oct. 7, the ractopamine residue limit would be 0.3 ppb in pork and 0.5 ppb in pig viscera using the most sensitive test -- liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) . The test can detect ractopamine levels as low as 0.03 ppb.

Ractopamine, marketed under the brand name Paylean, is a drug used for the improvement of weight gain, carcass leanness and feed0 efficiency in animals.

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