The government and opposition parties have been in a 5-day and 4-night standoff over the US beef issue, but it has come to nothing

The current session of the Legislative Yuan was adjourned today, the 15th. Due to the opposition party's complete occupation of the podium in protest, the "Food Sanitation Management Act Amendment Draft" related to the opening of American beef with ractopamine has come to nothing. In addition to condemning each other, the blue and green parties have not ruled out holding an additional extraordinary session at an appropriate time. Therefore, the controversy over American beef may continue in the Legislative Yuan. As to whether to open American beef by executive order, the Executive Yuan is still unwilling to express its position.

The Legislative Yuan was unable to successfully complete its review of the "Food Sanitation Management Act Amendment Bill" related to the opening of American beef with ractopamine before the adjournment of this session due to the continued confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties. (Photography by Zhang Yawen)

The ruling and opposition party caucuses in the Legislative Yuan are deadlocked over the bill on American beef. After 5 days and 4 nights of confrontation and more than 10 negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties, there is still no conclusion. The top leaders of the government and the party will hold a meeting in the evening to discuss the follow-up response matters. Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng said that only if there is a proposal from the party caucus will they discuss whether to hold an extraordinary session. In addition, it is expected that the Executive Yuan will announce the opening by administrative order.

The so-called administrative order to open up American beef containing ractopamine means that the Executive Yuan adopts the authorization of past legislation, with the Council of Agriculture first announcing the lifting of the ban on ractopamine, and the Department of Health then setting the safe residual limit. In the draft announced by the Department of Health in 2007, the most stringent standard of 10ppb in various countries was adopted for beef muscle and fat. The Department of Health is currently inclined to use 10ppb as the upper limit for discussion.

However, Article 17-1 of the original draft amendment to the Esophageal Act would have included "mandatory labeling" in the law, requiring all catering businesses to indicate the origin of their beef ingredients. If this is changed to an administrative order, the Department of Health can only guide businesses to indicate the origin, and cannot impose fines on violators.

Although the controversy over American beef has not yet been concluded, following the Yilan County government's "zero detection" autonomous regulations, the Yunlin County government also announced today that it has drafted a "Yunlin County Meat Hygiene Management Autonomous Regulations" to refuse meat containing clenbuterol from entering Yunlin, and will send it to the county council for review.