Traces of cimbuterol, a banned beta-agonist, were found in a pork product made by Taiwan Sugar Co (Taisugar), the Food and Drug Administration and the Taichung Health Bureau said before the Lunar New Year holiday.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) recently changed her stance and declared that the incident was an isolated case, which was obviously an attempt at damage control. Legislators of the blue and white camps continue to talk about the case and Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) was required to present a report for a Q&A at the Legislative Yuan.
No direct evidence was found, but through the process of elimination, the test result might have been a result of laboratory contamination, Chen said.
Taichung Health Bureau Director Tseng Tzu-chan (曾梓展) rejected this, claiming that the elimination method was unscientific.
The elimination method is commonly used in mathematics. We learn this in elementary school and continue to use it in sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and statistics. Tseng’s comment would certainly infuriate many mathematicians.
The well-known “Taguchi method” also uses elimination to analyze variations in manufacturing, relying on signal-to-noise ratio to measure the performance and quality of systems. This method eliminates the less effective variations, helping users choose the best parameters to minimize effects on performance and improve the quality of manufactured goods.
Academics and experts reviewed the pork product case, stating that it was either laboratory contamination or an incident caused by a “consumer terrorist.”
It is unclear whether the act was intentional and we do not know whether this was done by a Chinese or a local collaborator.
When Chen said that the possibility of laboratory contamination could not be eliminated, his statement was entirely based on scientific evidence.
A scientific experiment should be repeatable and reproducible.
In this case, the pork products should have been chosen from the same batch number as the tainted pork. However, the Taichung Health Bureau only said that the pork product selected was produced “on the same day.”
As expected, the results varied drastically, lacking any repeatability. Other laboratories did not detect any trace of cimbuterol either, meaning the experiment lacks reproducibility.
The whole incident is simply absurd. Instead of righting her wrong, Tseng continues to rave and quibble while she defends her subordinates.
Such a director should be disqualified.
Huang Rongwen is a retired professor of National Changhua University of Education.
Translated by Emma Liu
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