Food Safety Alliance: Refuse to Eat Beef That Americans Don’t Eat

The Legislative Yuan is expected to deal with the U.S. beef case during its temporary session. The National Food Safety Alliance, which is composed of several civil society groups, today reiterated its strong opposition to the import of beef containing ractopamine. It questioned the proportion of beef containing ractopamine detected in the United States, which is far lower than the amount seized in Taiwan. It stressed: "Why should Taiwanese people eat beef that Americans don't eat!"

Chen Yuanlin, manager of the Housewives' Union Consumer Cooperative, said that according to data from the USDA, in 2010, a total of 840 meat samples were inspected in the United States, and only 1 was found to contain ractopamine, a rate of 0.12%. No ractopamine has been detected since 2011. In contrast, since March 20 this year, my country has launched border inspections on imported beef from the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries. As of early June, 2 out of 91 batches of American cattle inspected had ractopamine residues, with a detection rate of more than 2%.

She believes that judging from the data alone, one cannot help but wonder whether the United States is really using a domineering approach to force Taiwanese people to eat things they themselves do not eat.

Gao Ruping, secretary general of the National Association for the Advancement of Community Colleges, said that the United States has painted a big picture of TIFA and sent a large number of beef containing ractopamine to the market. Although the government has vowed to strictly control and clearly label, all kinds of beef products on the market, whether it is sales channels, packaging methods or even processing procedures, all have hidden mysteries. She is worried that administrative units may find it difficult to implement and maintain the defense line of meat safety.

The National Food Safety Alliance emphasized that the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) voted to pass the maximum allowable residue level standard for ractopamine in beef and pork. This is just the result of international wrestling and does not eliminate the safety concerns about ractopamine to the human body. The government should not deliberately ignore the voices of opposition and regard such standards as the basis for resolving the issue of American beef.