October 9, 2023

 

All batches of pork entering Taiwan to be scrutinised at borders

 

 

Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on October 7 that border inspections on imported pork entering the country would be conducted for every batch, as two local importers were recently found to have falsely labeled pork imported from the United States as being from other countries.

 

The measures took effect immediately.

 

The Taoyuan Department of Public Health said last week that the department, together with the FDA, inspected pork by Hsin Hsing Frozen Food Co and Rayton Foods Co, and found the two companies were suspected of falsely labeling pork products.

 

Since late June, Hsin Hsing Frozen Food Co imported up to 4,633 packages (94,377kg) of frozen pork shoulder from the US and sold them as hot pot pork slices, but labeled them as being from Canada.

 

In July and last month, Rayton Foods Co  imported about 47,164kg of frozen pork collar butt from the US, and sold it as "restructured pork slices," while falsely labeling them as being from Canada or from the United Kingdom.

 

As the maximum residue limits of ractopamine, a leanness-enhancing feed additive used in pigs and cattle, was set in 2020, and imports of pork from ractopamine-fed pigs were allowed in Taiwan from January 1, 2021, the FDA requires all food products containing pork to declare the country of origin.

 

The FDA said the imported pork from the two companies was tested for ractopamine residues, and the test results were negative.

 

The Taichung City Government released a list of 81 restaurants that purchased and served the falsely labeled pork from the two companies, while local governments conducted follow-up inspections on the restaurants that used affected meats, but did not publicise the restaurants' names.

 

The Taipei City Department of Health said it found one restaurant failed to mark the source of its pork products and four restaurants falsely labeled imported pork from Canada or the US as being from Taiwan, Canada or Spain.

 

Batch-by-batch border inspection was initially conducted on imported pork when meat products from ractopamine-fed pigs were first allowed to be imported in early 2021, but as no ractopamine residues were detected in two years, the inspection rate decreased, FDA Director-General Wu Shou-mei said.

 

- Taipei Times