June 26, 2009

With the public debating over whether Taiwan should fully open its market to US beef, Taiwan's Council of Agriculture (COA) said Thursday (Jun 25) it believes that the products do not pose a health threat as long as the potentially risky parts of the cattle are removed.

 

There should be no animal quarantine concerns over US beef once the cattle undergo health checks before and after they are slaughtered and the specified risk materials (SRMs) are removed and discarded during the slaughtering process, according to Hsu Kuei-sen, director of the COA's Animal Industry Department.

 

Hsu said his department arrived at this conclusion based on a decision by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and Taiwan's Department of Health (DOH), which determined that US beef, regardless of the age of the cattle, was safe.

 

Currently, Taiwan only imports boneless US beef from cattle younger than 30 months of age but the government is pondering a US request to allow imports of US beef from all cattle, regardless of age, as well as some beef with bones to be imported, as long as the parts considered potentially risky are removed.

 

Taiwan banned US beef in 2003 when a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) was detected in Seattle. 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 re-implemented two months later when a second BSE case was discovered in the US.

 

In 2006, the DOH agreed to allow US beef imports once again but it was restricted to only boneless beef from cattle younger than 30 months of age, produced by certified slaughterhouses and without any risky parts of the cattle which include the brain, skull, eyes, trigeminal ganglion, notochord, backbone, and spinal nerve root, as well as all the cattle's tonsil and small intestines. This deadly disease is passed on to humans through affected beef.

 

With only boneless US beef from young cows being allowed, the US supplies 32 percent of Taiwan's beef, which was much lower than the 50 percent before the ban on beef from older cows.

 

Meanwhile, Hsu pointed out that Taiwan, as a World Trade Organisation member, is obliged to open its market to beef imports. He added that Taiwan will import foreign beef as long as they meet existing food safety standards.

 

However, the COA and DOH did not openly endorse a full market opening for US beef.

 

DOH Minister Yeh Ching-chuan said Wednesday (Jun 24) there is no timetable for the full opening of the local market to US beef. He said the issue also depends on whether the public will accept the product.

 

Yeh made the remarks following Harry Tseng, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of North American Affairs expressed optimism over the timeline for full market opening.

 

According to the COA, Taiwan imports about 73,000 tonnes of beef annually, mostly from Australia, the US and New Zealand.

 

Hsu said a full restoration of US beef imports will not affect Taiwan's domestic demand for locally-produced beef as it amounts to only 6,000 tonnes yearly, accounting for just 7.6 percent of the total beef consumed in the country.