First case! New Taipei City found ractopamine in hamburger meat

The New Taipei City Health Bureau conducted a random inspection of breakfast shops for food safety and found that the "Midian Hamburger Meatballs" (pork meatballs) sold by an Aihong fast food chain in Xizhi District contained 0.4 ppb of ractopamine. The supply came from Yunlin County, and the case has been referred to the health bureau under its jurisdiction for investigation. The department is expected to impose a fine of NT$6 to NT$6 million for violating Article 11 of the Food Sanitation Management Act. The Department of Health stated that the raw pork used by the business came from the United States imported by a Taipei trader. All of the more than 100 kilograms of American pork had been made into meatballs and sold, and the merchant had sold out all of them and had no stock left.

The New Taipei City Health Bureau conducted a food safety inspection of breakfast shops and found that the "Midian Hamburger Meatballs" (pork meatballs) sold by an Aihong fast food chain in Xizhi District contained ractopamine, which was sourced from Yunlin County. (Photo courtesy of New Taipei City Health Bureau)

Lin Guanzhen, chief of the Food and Drug Administration Department of the New Taipei City Health Bureau, pointed out that starting from September 16, the government opened up the ban on ractopamine (lean meat powder) residues in U.S. beef, allowing the ractopamine content in U.S. beef to be within 10 ppb, but for pork, whether domestically produced or imported, there is "zero detection".

An investigation found that the "Midian Hamburger Meatballs" sold by an Aihong fast food chain on Xiwan Road in Xizhi District were found to contain 0.4 ppb of ractopamine (not allowed to be detected in pork), and the source of the product was from Yunlin County. Continuing to trace the same batch number, a total of 260 kilograms, the Health Bureau has recovered and sealed 119 kilograms, and the remaining 141 kilograms of the same batch have been sold out by downstream merchants and are out of stock.

The Department of Health revealed that the meatballs were supplied by a food company in Yunlin, and the company's raw pork came from the United States imported by traders in Taipei. (Photo courtesy of New Taipei City Health Bureau)

It is understood that this batch of meatballs was supplied by a food company in Yunlin. The raw pork of the company came from the United States imported by traders in Taipei. The meatball manufacturer has been asked to recall the products immediately and provide the import date of this batch of pork raw materials, the list and quantity of downstream manufacturers supplied, etc. The investigation will continue. This is also the first illegal case of seizing imported pork from the United States containing ractopamine after the government opened up to American beef.