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Updated Wednesday, November 18, 2009 9:22 am TWN, The China Post news staff

Gov't keeps tight check on U.S. beef

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The government is sticking to its plan of tightly examining imports of American beef products after the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) blocked yesterday the legislative meeting on revising existing regulations on food safety.

The DPP lawmakers successfully obstructed progress of the meeting for the whole day again with a demand to have new rules added to force an outright ban on imports of high-risk food products like U.S. ground beef and internal organs.

Legislators of the ruling Kuomintang were unable to push through their versions for amending the Food Hygiene Administration Law.

Their proposals include imposing stricter criteria and administrative rules to block the entry of unsafe products after importers fail to present required certificates from foreign authorities in supply nations and when their shipments fail to pass examination at customs.

They said these steps and other administrative measures will effectively deny the entry of high-risk beef products while honoring the agreement on relaxed beef imports already reached with the U.S.

But the DPP objected to such proposals and refused to review the KMT suggestions unless regulations are added to directly prohibit the imports of certain U.S. beef products.

The party also summoned supporters to stage a protest calling for reopening beef trade negotiations with the U.S. outside the Legislative Yuan.

Legislators from both of the major parties had promised early this month to complete the legislative amendment before the deadline of Nov. 17 they jointly set.

KMT lawmaker Lin Yi-shih criticized the DPP for continuously manipulating the beef trade issue for possible gains in votes for the upcoming local elections set for Dec. 5.

Despite the continued boycott from the DPP and protest from some consumers groups, KMT lawmakers said they will keep the doors open on legislative programs concerning beef imports.

Government officials stressed the stalling of the legislative bills will not affect government agencies' plan of implementing the maximum stringent inspection and quarantine measures to deny the entry of any unsafe food products from any country to allay consumers' concerns.

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	Lawmakers of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) take over the speaker's seat in the Legislative Yuan to grind the legislative proceedings to a halt for another day. They insisted yesterday on passing new rules to directly ban U.S. ground beef and internal organs while refusing to review proposals from the ruling Kuomintang. (CNA) Enlarge Photo


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