February 21, 2023

Experts in Taiwan to meet following discovery of banned additive in pork produced by state-owned firm

Experts will meet on February 21 to discuss how banned leanness-enhancing additive cimbuterol came to be found in a pork product made by state-owned Taiwan Sugar Co (Taisugar), the country's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said last week.

FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu said experts in food safety, veterinary science and livestock management will be in attendance.

The incident came to light after the Taichung Health Bureau said on February 2 that a sample of Taisugar's "Pork Boston Butt, Sliced" at a General Welfare Service store in Taichung was found to contain 0.002 parts per million (ppm) of cimbuterol in a test conducted on January 15.

Government and health authorities across Taiwan have since conducted additional tests on pork products and as of February 10, no trace of cimbuterol was found in 705 pork products tested.

The latest results announced by the FDA on February 16 showed that no sign of cimbuterol was found in an additional 75 samples of Taisugar pork products that were examined by local health authorities. The samples included three that were processed in the same batch as the tainted product, the FDA said.

However, cimbuterol was again detected — at 0.001ppm — in a pack of pork after a retest was conducted, FDA Director-General Wu Show-mei said on February 10.

Taiwanese Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan at that time said that the tainted Taisugar pork was likely an isolated case.

In the wake of the incident, the government has stepped up sampling inspections of pork products on the market this year, doubling the number of scheduled annual tests from 2,000 to 4,000, Lin said.

- Taipei Times