May 30, 2012

 

Taiwanese inspectors confirm safety of US beef

 

 

Seven Taiwanese delegates came back Sunday (May 27) from a 23-day safety check of US cattle slaughterhouses, farms and labs and affirmed that the US beef is in good quality.

 

The team issued a press report upon landing at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

 

Taiwan's government beef inspectors concluded that US oversight is "very rigorous" and that US beef "should be considered safe."

 

Overall, US beef should be considered safe, said Watson Sung, a delegate from the Executive Yuan's Council of Agriculture (COA).

 

Sung said that US control and quarantine measures on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad-cow disease, are "very rigorous and efficient."

 

The team found just one significant safety infraction - in cattle tonsil removal - at a Kansas slaughterhouse. Taiwan does not import US beef tonsils, said Sung.

 

Throughout the tour, Taiwanese delegates found the US to be "highly cooperative," he added.

 

Typically inspectors must file a request two months in advance of a visit, said COA Minister Chen Bao-ji, who met the delegates at the airport Sunday.

 

But in light of the confirmed BSE case in California April 24, the US was very willing to open its doors on shorter notice, Chen told reporters.

 

On April 24, the US Department of Agriculture confirmed BSE in a California dairy cow. The BSE case is the country's fourth since 2003.

 

Fielding media inquiries, the COA minister denied a link between the delegates' announcement and US visa-free status for Taiwan.

 

Vice President Wu Den-yih announced Saturday that Taiwan is closing in on US visa-free treatment, with a start date set provisionally for October.

 

Local press asked Chen Bao-ji yesterday if it's "just a coincidence" that US visa exemption and the US beef safety announcement have fallen on the same weekend.

 

Chen denied the intimation of cause and effect.

 

Taiwan sends a delegation every year to inspect US slaughterhouses, he responded.

 

"The US cooperates this time, and you connect that cooperation with US visa-free status - such a move goes beyond my imagination."

 

Chen said the inspection team will issue a detailed report early June.

 

Meanwhile, the Consumers' Foundation (CF) demanded a temporary embargo of US beef imports, citing a worrying report from the US-based Consumers Union.

 

A Consumers Union report dated May 1 states that the discovery of BSE in the "USDA's very small testing program" is a huge "warning flag."

 

The number of cattle tested for mad cow disease has fallen almost 90% since 2005, and now the USDA tests only 40,000 of the 35 million cattle slaughtered in the US every year, according to the Consumers Union.

 

Likewise, if Taiwan's delegation was able to find a problem in Kansas during a very limited tour, the infraction problem is just "the tip of the iceberg," said physician Su Wei-shuo at the Taipei press conference on Sunday.

 

The US report also confirms that the latest BSE case involves the atypical "L-type" disease strain, said Taipei's CF.

 

Studies show that the "L-type" strain can be passed on to humans more easily than can typical strains.