The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a proposal to lift a ban on importing Canadian beef from cattle older than 30 months.
The new rules are to take effect immediately, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅) told a news conference.
Taiwan previously only imported Canadian beef from cattle under 30 months old. It lifted similar restrictions on imports of US beef from cattle over the age of 30 months on Jan. 1, 2021.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
Due to the relatively long incubation period of mad cow disease, cows aged under 30 months are generally thought to be at lower risk of having the disease.
The FDA on April 27 issued a notice on lifting the ban and commenced a 30-day public comment period before the Cabinet approved the proposal.
However, Taiwan will still ban specific risk materials for Canadian beef imports, including the brain, eyes and spinal cord, among other parts, Wu added.
After the ban is lifted, Taiwan would randomly select batches of imports for inspection at a rate of 2 to 10 percent, she said.
Imported products that fail an inspection would be destroyed or returned, and if the number of violations becomes concerning, such imports would be subject to “enhanced random inspections” or “batch-by-batch checks,” Wu added.
Currently, 55 countries, including the US, the UK and Japan, allow imports of Canadian beef, Cabinet spokesman Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) told the news conference.
The move to allow imports of Canadian beef from cattle over the age of 30 months came after a government source said that the ban could be a major stumbling block between Ottawa and Taipei, as they negotiate a deal to encourage two-way investment, called the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.
The source said progress on reaching a deal was going “very smoothly” until negotiations turned to the 30-month slaughter-age limit.
The source added that the government was hopeful that Canada would support Taiwan’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The Consumers’ Foundation in a news release yesterday called for a boycott of Canadian beef, saying the North American nation’s last reported case of mad cow disease was fairly recent and it has not clarified feed contamination concerns.
When Ottawa reported a case of mad cow disease in December 2021, South Korea, China and the Philippines stopped importing Canadian beef, it said, opposing the government’s decision to open imports.
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