The Department of Health first announced in Taipei its protocol decision on Oct. 23, drawing fire from some consumer rights advocates and lawmakers for allegedly ignoring mad cow disease concerns and giving in to pressure from Washington.

The U.S. statement said the protocol “is science-based and follows the guidelines of World Organization of Animal Health (OIE), as well as the findings of Taiwan's own risk assessment on the safety of U.S. beef.”

While Monday's decision by Taiwan's Cabinet expanded market access to U.S. beef, it still included “other additional domestic measures regarding beef and beef products,” the joint statement said.

“We are currently reviewing these measures to ensure they allow Taiwan consumers the opportunity to enjoy the same safe American beef and beef products that American families eat,” the statement added.

“We look forward to working with our partners in Taiwan to ensure that Taiwan's domestic requirements are consistent with the protocol, the science, the OIE guidelines, and Taiwan's international obligations,” the U.S. government agencies said.

Scientists believe mad cow disease was caused by using infected parts of cattle to make feed for other cattle, and that eating meat from infected animals can trigger Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human variant of the fatal brain-wasting disease.

More than 200 people around the world are suspected to have died, most of them in Britain, from the human variant of the disease, which was first described in 1996.

Taiwan banned all U.S. beef imports in December 2003 after reports of mad cow disease in North America but it opened up to boneless beef imports in 2006 while keeping other offal restrictions in place.

To defuse the mounting opposition to the latest relaxation measure from consumers groups and the major opposition party in Taiwan, the Cabinet also announces a set of administrative measures along with easing U.S. beef imports.

Stressing that the government possesses full rights to guard the people's health and safety, the Cabinet put into force the measures of managing three supply sources -- original U.S. beef suppliers, customs entry, and marketing channels.

Five administrative steps are set, including checking relevant trade documents, clearly providing adequate information about the products and suppliers in labels, tightly inspecting the imported items to exclude possible mixing of higher-risk items with other products, examining product safety concerning possible contamination by metals or other 37 prohibited substances, and instantly verifying the related product information.

Government officials, including Premier Wu Den-yi and Minister Yaung Chih-liang of Department of Health (DOH) claimed that these series of measures and initiatives taken by local-level governments will ultimately deter importers from bringing in beef products most worrying to consumers.

Public sentiment against ground beef and cattle viscera imports continues to simmer around Taiwan.

More beef importers, retailing outlets, and restaurants have voluntarily signed up to join a self-management mechanism initiated by the Taipei City Government to exclude ground beef and internal organs from their offerings on grounds that it will be hard for these products to find buyers anyway.

Representatives from fastfood chains like KFC, Burger King, and Mos Burger as well as wholesale stores like Carrefour joined a campaign of “no buying, no selling, no eating” and “clear labeling” of the products launched by the Taipei County Government.

Other local administrators plan to follow suit to protect constituents in their regions.

Representatives from the Consumers Foundation, Kaohsiung City Council, and civic groups staged a protest against what they described as the forced import of ground beef and internal organs at the Kaohsiung office of the Washington-based American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).

Various organizations continued soliciting sponsors for holding a nationwide referendum to force the government to reopen negotiations on beef trade with the U.S., although officials have ruled out the possibility.