May 9, 2011

 

 

Taiwan's government watchdog censured the Department of Health (DOH) Thursday (May 5) for failing to conduct any inspections on banned drugs in imported US beef at customs checkpoints before this year.

 

Censure is a first step that paves the way for disciplinary action, in which an official could be demoted or suspended from his or her duties.

 

Cheng Jen-hung, a member of the Control Yuan, said at a press briefing that the DOH had not carried out its vow to take stringent measures to prevent US beef with drugs that promote leanness in meat from hitting local market shelves.

 

A Control Yuan investigation discovered the department did not conduct any inspections on US beef imports at customs prior to this year, when the beef issue was vaulted to prominence as the major trade dispute between Taiwan and the US. The US is putting considerable pressure on Taiwan to let all of its beef products in.

 

Only when the government began inspections at local markets in January did it find 11 samples of American beef, among 77 imported beef products, tested positive for the banned drugs, Cheng said.

 

"This shows that customs inspections failed for beef imports," he said.

 

The Control Yuan also censured the Council of Agriculture (COA) for carrying out a low number of inspections on drug residues in local meat products and for its failure to track the origin of the leanness drugs.

 

This announcement comes at a time when the government is considering whether to ease the ban on US beef imports containing leanness enhancing drugs. Officials have indicated that they are waiting for a World Health Organisation (WHO) decision in July on these drugs before proceeding with any policy revisions.

 

But based on this incident of negligence by DOH, Cheng expressed concern that if these products are allowed, the government might lack the capacity to prevent meat with excessive drugs from coming in.

 

He also urged the government not to bow to "the pressure from some countries," on the beef dispute, because people in Taiwan have different eating habits. For instance, Taiwanese like to eat internal organs, of which the drugs' toxicity is especially high.