July 31, 2007

Taiwan destroys imported pork containing ractopamine

Pork found in Miaoli County, northern Taiwan that was confirmed to contain the veterinary drug "ractopamine, " has been destroyed in an effort to protect consumers' safety and rights, according to the Miaoli County Department of Health.

Lin Yu-chen, chief of the department's food inspection section, said that the county government sent two samples of the pork obtained from a Miaoli traditional market for inspection last week to test for ractopamine, a drug used by some foreign farmers as an additive to promote the growth of lean meat in pigs.

The drug is allowed in the US, Mexico and other countries but banned in Taiwan.

As one of the two samples was found to have contained ractopamine, officials have moved to recall the products from market to have it destroyed, Lin said.

Meanwhile, Lin called for all meat dealers to refrain from sourcing pork from other cities or counties.

The contaminated pork comes from two shipments, totaling some 1,000 tonnes, of 7,400 tonnes of US pork imported between October 2006 and June this year. The shipments were detected last week to have contained residue of the banned drug.

Authorities have not moved to suspend US pork imports as current regulations state that imports can only be suspended after three shipments are detected to contain banned substances.

Food health agencies around the country have been told to beef up inspection efforts, and testing for the drug on pork shipments have been intensified.

The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine decided last October to ban drugs used by farmers as food additives to boost growth of lean meat in pigs, such as ractopamine, after cases were reported abroad concerning the effect of such drugs on heart and neural systems.