Clenbuterol is only for imported cattle and horses. President: There is a difference between domestic and foreign

The Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) has set a permissible residue limit for the lean meat stimulant "ractopamine" in both beef and pork. However, President Ma Ying-jeou emphasized today that Taiwan maintains the 16-character principle and the policy of "differentiation between domestic and foreign" and therefore only conditionally opens up imported beef containing lean meat stimulant.

President Ma Ying-jeou said that the policy would be "differentiation between domestic and foreign", and imported American beef would be allowed to contain a certain amount of ractopamine residues, but domestic beef would still be banned. (Photo/Taken from the Presidential Office website)

When President Ma accepted the credentials of the new Ambassador of the Republic of Guatemala to China on the 6th, he mentioned that the Taiwan government will adopt the principles of "safety permission, separation of cattle and pigs, mandatory labeling, and exclusion of offal" and the policy of "differentiation between domestic and foreign" for the import of US beef, and emphasized that by opening up US beef, Taiwan can hope to resume negotiations on the Taiwan-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).

The opposition party once demanded that American beef contain "zero detection" of ractopamine and paralyzed the review of the Food Sanitation Management Act in the last week of the Legislative Yuan's current session. President Ma said that Codex's conclusion brought positive information to our country and proved that the government's persistence in the past four months was correct. In the future, the government will set the allowable standard for ractopamine residues in imported American beef based on this. Therefore, imported American beef may be allowed to contain a certain amount of ractopamine residues, but domestic beef will still be banned.

Kang Zhaozhou, director of the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health, said that the "differentiation between domestic and foreign" approach is like the Japanese model. This policy direction is a call to the domestic industry. On the one hand, the breeding environment is different from that in the United States, and the use of clenbuterol may not be effective. In addition, given the stigma that clenbuterol now carries, domestic meat products can be distinguished from American beef by not using it.

Chen Ting-fei, secretary-general of the Democratic Progressive Party's Legislative Yuan caucus, emphasized that Codex has set safe limits for ractopamine for both cattle and pigs. Taiwan should clearly enshrine the principle of "separating cattle and pigs" into law to avoid being challenged by the United States, which would otherwise prevent even pigs from being caught. In addition, mandatory labeling should not only include the place of origin, but also the content of clenbuterol so that the public can be fully informed and decide whether to buy it.

The opposition party also called on President Ma to set a specific timetable for Taiwan-US trade and not to sacrifice the rights and interests of the Taiwanese people without gaining any negotiating advantage.