Allowing the importation of pork with ractopamine residue is a trade matter, not a safety issue, an Executive Yuan official said yesterday, adding that no health problems have been reported since the ban was lifted.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remarks ahead of the Dec. 18 referendum, which includes a question asking voters if they agree that the government should ban the importation of pork products containing ractopamine residue.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is urging the public to vote “no” on the referendum question, which was initiated by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲).
Photo: CNA
The official said that 109 countries allow imports of pork and beef containing safe levels of ractopamine residue, including Japan and the 10 other members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
No health problems have been reported since Taiwan nine years ago allowed the importation of beef containing safe levels of ractopamine residue, the official said, adding that the issue is a trade matter in which Taiwan must reciprocate in bilateral trade with other countries.
If Taiwan does not follow international rules, based on science and safety standards, it could face problems joining the CPTPP and other regional trade organizations, the official said.
DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) on Friday wrote on Facebook that a Taichung City Government Web site, which shows the results of ractopamine testing, listed only beef products as containing the substance, the importation of which began under former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT.
“Just in Taichung, tests found that 70 shops had beef products with ractopamine at levels within international safety standards. This proves that it is not a food safety issue. It is more important to open up for beef and pork imports with safe levels of ractopamine,” Wang wrote. “This way we can secure more favorable terms for our export economy, while helping Taiwan join the CPTPP and bolster Taiwan-US relations.”
On the other hand, KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday launched a campaign in Taipei titled “Food Safety First,” in which he said that 60.9 percent of Taiwanese opposed importing “pork containing ractopamine” in a survey by Apollo Co.
Sixty-six percent of respondents said they would vote in the referendum, and 86.5 percent said that clear labeling for “pork containing ractopamine” is needed, he said.
“These numbers show the public’s concern for food safety. They have no faith in the government’s current measures. People are also angry at the ruling party for misleading them in painting opposition to ‘ractopamine pork’ as opposition to ‘US pork,’” he said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
RSS