Taiwan would still open to the importation of Canadian beef from cattle older than 30 months, despite receiving mostly negative public feedback, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Wednesday.
The FDA last month announced it was to lift the ban, as Canada in February obtained “negligible risk status” for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, from the World Organisation for Animal Health.
The decision then entered a 30-day period for public input, which ended this week with two comments for, three against and 10 indeterminate, FDA information showed.
Photo: Wang Han-ping, Taipei Times
Taiwanese have already been eating Canadian beef for 16 years, FDA Deputy Director Lin Chin-fu (林金富) told the agency’s weekly news conference on food safety, adding that allowing the importation of beef from older cows “is the international trend.”
Taiwan was Canada’s eighth-largest importer of beef last year and is one of only three countries in the top 10 that still ban the importation of beef from cattle older than 30 months, Lin said.
The date for when the ban is to be lifted is yet to be decided, Lin added.
The decision received significant criticism last month, including from the Consumers’ Foundation, over concern about the FDA’s assessment process and the state of BSE in Canada.
Ahead of the decision, a government source said that the ban had become a barrier in talks on a bilateral foreign investment promotion and protection agreement between Taipei and Ottawa.
Taiwan in January last year lifted restrictions on the importation of US beef from cattle older than 30 months.
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