Taipei City's random inspection of clenbuterol found no excessive levels

The Taipei City Health Bureau announced that in September, it went to meat importers, hypermarkets, supermarkets, traditional markets, and the catering industry to conduct meat sampling inspections. A total of 35 items were sampled, including 25 pieces of beef, 5 pieces of pork, 2 pieces of duck, and 3 pieces of goose. The clenbuterol (beta-receptor content) content of all of them complied with regulations.

Chen Liqi, director of the Food and Drug Administration of the Taipei City Health Bureau, emphasized that in addition to marking the origin of the beef, businesses must also provide supporting documents for inspection. (Photography by Zhang Yawen)

Chen Liqi, director of the Taipei City Food and Drug Administration, said that according to the announcement of the Department of Health on September 11, 2012, the residual allowable amount of ractopamine in beef muscle was revised to 10ppb. In order to understand the content of beta-agonists in meat products, a total of 35 commercially available meat products were sampled for inspection, and the inspection item was beta-agonists. Among them, the origins of 25 pieces of beef were 14 pieces from the United States, 1 piece from New Zealand, 4 pieces from Australia, 1 piece from Nicaragua, and 5 pieces from Taiwan; the origins of 5 pieces of pork and 3 pieces of goose were all Taiwan; the origins of 2 pieces of duck meat were 1 piece from Canada and 1 piece from Taiwan, and none of them were found to exceed the standard.

Regarding the inspection of beef origin labels, Chen Liqi said that the Taipei City "Meat Animal Drug Ractopamine Task Force" has visited 1,109 businesses in accordance with Article 17 and Article 17-1 of the Food Sanitation Management Act, of which 1,051 businesses provided and sold beef, and all of them posted origin labels in accordance with regulations (including on-site guidance for immediate corrections). A total of 1,087 items of origin labeling for packaged beef food were inspected, and the inspection results were all in compliance with regulations.

Chen Liqi reminded that beef labels in direct dining establishments should be posted, hung, put up, pasted or other methods that are clearly identifiable. The font size, length and width should be: 0.4 cm for menus and 2 cm for other labels. The font size of the beef origin label on packaged food is 0.2 cm in length and width, but for small packages with a maximum surface area of ​​less than 10 square centimeters, the font size must be less than 0.2 cm in length and width. In addition to the label, proof of origin is also required. Those who fail the test will be required to correct the problem within 3 days.

Chen Liqi emphasized that in the future, those who are found to be failing to label packaged or bulk foods or directly supplying food in accordance with regulations will be fined NT$30,000 to NT$150,000 for violating Article 17 of the Food Sanitation Management Act. Businesses that have not yet labeled the origin of their beef in accordance with regulations should do so as soon as possible to avoid being fined.