US beef meets obstacles in Taiwan

Taiwan has decided to lift import restrictions on US bone-in beef, but obstacles remain as certain segments will not serve the meat at least in the short term.

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) has recently signed beef contracts from suppliers from Australia and New Zealand, and the contracts will not expire until the end of 2010, said MND spokesman Yu Sy-tue.

Yu added that the MND will continue to pay attention to the origin of meat products that are served at military bases, and will carry out random inspection of meat products in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and other relevant government agencies.

Meanwhile, Yang Chiu-hsing, magistrate of the southern county of Kaohsiung, issued a directive Tuesday (Oct 27) for the exclusion of US ground beef and offal from meals at the county's schools.

Yang also instructed Kaohsiung county government officials to make sure that beef and beef products in restaurants and supermarket chain stores in Kaohsiung County are properly labelled to show the country of origin. Yang dissuaded Kaohsiung residents from consuming US bone-in beef, ground beef and offal, saying this is a health precaution.