Taiwan and US in final rounds of beef talks

Taiwan and the US are in the final stages of negotiations to fully open up Taiwan's market to US beef.

According to Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), technical negotiations are being carried out by the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Office of Trade Negotiations, the Council of Agriculture and the Department of Health (DOH).

Harry Tseng, director-general of MOFA's Department of North American Affairs said the government was optimistic that the situation could be settled this year, according to a report in The Taiwan News.

Currently, the US supplies 32 per cent of Taiwan's beef. However, under existing DOH rules, only boneless beef from cattle younger than 30 months of age, produced from certified slaughterhouses and without specified risk material such as brains and spinal cord, can be imported to Taiwan.

The US has been constantly urging the Taiwan government to make a science-based decision on fully opening its market to US beef. The US added that all of Taiwan's scientific review and technical work indicated that US beef does not pose a threat of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Taiwan banned US beef in 2003 following the detection of a BSE case. The ban was lifted in April 2005 to allow imports of US de-boned beef from cattle aged less than 30 months. However, the ban was implemented again two months later when a second BSE case was discovered in the US.