President Ma expects speedy conclusion to beef talks with U.S.

Ma, who arrived in Panama City Tuesday to attend new Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli's inauguration, made the remarks during an informal gathering with Taiwan reporters covering his two-leg Central America diplomatic tour that will take him next to Nicaragua.

According to Ma, his administration has been in talks with the United States since last August on the possibility of allowing U.S. bone-in beef, shredded beef, beef tripe, offal and other beef products back onto Taiwan's store shelves after a five-year ban.

“But the two sides have not yet reached any agreement on the timing and scope of such imports,” Ma said.

He stressed that his administration will re-open the door to those types of U.S. beef products only if they meet the standards of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

“We'll lift the ban only after we are sure that those products pose no health risks to our consumers,” Ma reaffirmed.

Taiwan banned U.S. beef in 2003 when a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) — also called mad cow disease — was diagnosed in Seattle.

The ban was partially lifted in April 2005 to allow imports of U.S. de-boned beef from cattle under 30 months old, but the government reimposed the ban two months later when a second BSE case was discovered in the U.S.

In 2006, Taiwan once again agreed to allow U.S. beef imports, but only boneless beef from cattle under than 30 months old, produced by certified slaughterhouses and without any risky parts, such as brains, skulls, eyes, spinal nerve roots, tonsils and small intestines, mixed in.

Over the past three years, the volume of U.S. beef imports has been increasing year-by-year, and at present accounts for around 32 percent of Taiwan's beef market.

The U.S. government has been pushing Taiwan to allow all U.S. beef imports. Outgoing U.S. representative to Taiwan, Stephen Young, said at his farewell press conference June 26 that progress on the beef issue will create a good atmosphere for what is already the Obama administration's commitment to working across a whole range of agricultural, trade and investment issues related to Taiwan.

During Thursday's news briefing, Ma said the beef products the U.S. government intends to sell Taiwan are on the daily menu of 300 million U.S. citizens and no human infections of mad cow disease have been reported there.

Despite strong opposition from South Korean consumer groups, South Korea has re-opened its market to U.S. beef imports and no health risks have been reported in that country, either, he added.

Noting that the issue has been hanging in the air for quite a long time, Ma said he hopes for a conclusion soon based on all available scientific data and evidence.

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