Amid pressure from the Consumers' Foundation and some legislators that the government destroy US beef imported to Taiwan, the Department of Health (DOH) reiterated yesterday afternoon that beef already on store shelves in Taiwan is safe and does not need to be removed.
"Although we reinstated a ban on US beef after the confirmation of a second mad-cow case, the meat currently on the shelves is safe and there is no need to recall the beef," DOH Bureau of Food Safety director Chen Lu-hung (陳陸宏) said yesterday.
He was responding to criticism that the DOH is ignoring public health over the US beef issue.
PHOTO: YANG YA-MIN, TAIPEI TIMES
The DOH's announcement came after reassurances from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) that US beef does not pose a threat to public health.
"We hope Taiwan will move swiftly to re-open the beef market after the AIT shares detailed information on the recent [bovine spongiform encephalopathy] BSE detection," AIT Director Douglas Paal said yesterday morning during a press conference at the American Cultural Center.
"I would also like to take this opportunity to guarantee to Taiwan customers that the US beef you have been eating and enjoying in great numbers has been, and continues to be, safe," he added.
The AIT held a press conference yesterday to dispel public fears about the safety of US beef.
According to Paal, who appeared at the Taipei Food Show earlier this month to promote US beef, the second confirmed case of mad-cow disease was discovered through a re-examination of an old sample from last year. The test result of this sample was not connected to the beef imported to Taiwan and therefore there is no threat to public health.
Lawmakers yesterday grilled the DOH for "fawning" on the US by insisting on keeping its beef on the market despite the so-called "mad cow threat."
"The DOH's decision to lift the ban on imports of US beef in mid-April and its refusal to recall the meat at stores now is based on political considerations," said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Joanna Lei (雷倩). "We demand the department end its `beef diplomacy' and stop trading people's lives for diplomatic space."
Responding to the accusations from opposition legislators and the Consumers' Foundation, the DOH yesterday reiterated that the beef was safe and its continued presence on the shelves had nothing to do with political considerations.
After a second case of BSE, or mad-cow disease, was confirmed in the US, the DOH reimposed a ban on US beef imports on Saturday.
The reinstatement of the ban generated concerns from consumer groups that the government should not have lifted the ban on US beef imports in April. They pointed to Japan and South Korea, which did not lift their respective bans on US beef.
Taiwan is the sixth-largest market for US beef, and US$325 million in beef was sold in 2003. Japan is the No.1 market, and was worth NT$1.4 billion in the same year. The first case of the disease in the US was confirmed on Dec. 24, 2003. Taiwan banned US beef imports a week later.
Also see story:
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS