New rules for U.S. beef imports: DOH

Minister Yaung Chih-liang of Department of Health (DOH) made public the measures at a press conference in the company of Minister of Economics Affairs Shih Yen-shiang, Minister Chen Wu-hsiung of the Council of Agriculture (COA), and Cabinet spokesman Su Jun-pin.

The newly revised regulations on import of American beef products expanded the list of U.S. products allowed into the Taiwan market. They will include items that contain no specified risk materials (SRMs) and from cattle younger than 30 months, covering skulls, backbones, brain matter, and certain intestine parts and organs.

Faced with strong opposition from lawmakers and consumers organizations against the trade liberalization move, DOH Minister Yaung said the accompanying safety inspection measures and standards will be adequate to safeguard the people's health.

Yaung said no U.S. beef products are not allowed into the Taiwan market from suppliers without quality system assessment (QSA) certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In addition, Taiwan's own administrative measure empowers government agencies to conduct 5 to 100 inspection of imported beef products depending on possible risks involved.

This means that every batch of imported internal organs and ground beef products will be subject to defreezing and then thorough tissue examination, Yaung explained.

Yaung said similar practice has been implemented successfully in South Korea. He promised the quarantine and inspection measure will be more rigorous than in most countries.

Managers at leading wholesale and discount stores like Carrefour, RT-Mart, A.mart, and Costco said they have no plan to import the controversial products like ground beef and internal organs with the belief that they not will not find reasonably enough buyers.

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