Another pork wholesaler was raided last weekend over imported US pork products falsely relabeled as originating in other countries before being supplied to restaurants. It was the third wholesaler to be involved in alleged country of origin labeling fraud this month.
Dozens of restaurants were also penalized for not declaring or mislabeling countries of origin of their pork-containing products this month, as local health departments increased inspections, following the raid on the first wholesaler earlier this month.
The mislabeling has stirred public concerns, as some are worried that the pork might contain ractopamine, a feed additive used in livestock to promote lean muscle, and that it could harm health.
Concerns were raised and debated for years, but despite controversies, Taiwan in 2021 lifted its ban on US pork containing ractopamine within the maximum residue limit, and regulations require pork products sold anywhere to legibly show the country of origin.
While the Food and Drug Administration had tested the US pork sold by the three wholesalers and found no traces of the additive, it on Wednesday reassured the public that since 2021, none of its tests on imported pork, not just US pork, had detected any ractopamine residue.
However, opposition parties, particularly the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), were happy to seize on the opportunity, accusing the government of neglecting the nation’s food safety by allowing “illicit transshipment” of US pork, and using the terms “ractopork” and “US pork” interchangeably, amplifying fear.
The Taichung City Government even publicized a list of 81 restaurants in the city that have served US pork from two of the wholesalers that mislabeled its US pork products as being Canadian or from the UK, seeming to imply that all US pork is problematic and that consumers should be warned, but some of the restaurants felt offended, as they, too, were the victims of alleged false origin labeling.
KMT legislators, local councilors and even the party’s presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), have accused the government of ignoring the “illicit transshipment” of US pork, misleading the public with a catchy but erroneous term, although Ministry of Health and Welfare officials have clarified that it is not a problem of “illicit transshipment,” but of alleged “false labeling” by unscrupulous traders or restaurants, for which the culprits were fined, adding that not all US pork contains ractopamine.
The term “illicit transshipment” is used to describe the diversion of products from their origin, through a third country or special economic zone for slight processing or to illegaly change the origin label, such as Chinese exporters shipping goods through some Southeast Asian countries, illegally relabeling them as made from those countries to avoid raised US tariffs.
The KMT’s previous presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) in 2019 proposed setting up a “free trade special economic zone” in Kaohsiung, which at the time sparked concerns it would be used for “illicit transshipment” of poor-quality Chinese goods, relabeling them as Made in Taiwan and sold to other countries, harming Taiwanese products’ reputation.
While food fraud, including mislabeling, is commonplace in the global food chain, consumers, the government and food industry must work together to call out fraud and bring bad actors to justice.
However, while unethical traders and retailers have been fined, politicians’ deliberate misuse of terms to sow public discontent and fear, aimed at misleading them against the government or all US pork products, does not benefit the nation’s food safety, but erodes public trust in the government’s scientific institutions and their inspections and testing results, leaving people less informed and easily affected by unfounded food scares.
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