Cattle with clenbuterol can choose: Department of Health: mandatory labeling of origin

The "Draft Amendment to the Food Sanitation Management Act" regarding whether the ban on imported beef containing the lean meat stimulant "ractopamine" will be lifted has not yet been passed, but the Department of Health reiterated today on the 17th that it will adhere to the policy direction proposed by the Executive Yuan of "safety allowance, separation of cattle and pigs, mandatory labeling, and exclusion of offal", emphasizing that through mandatory labeling of the origin, people can choose whether to eat it according to their personal needs.

Although the Food Administration Act did not pass the initial review to allow meat products containing ractopamine, the Department of Health still vigorously promotes the Executive Yuan's policy direction, emphasizing that by mandatory labeling of the origin of imported beef, people can choose whether to eat it based on their personal needs. (Photography by Zhang Yawen)

The Legislative Yuan's Health and Environment Committee passed the preliminary reading of the Esophageal Act on the 7th of this month. The winning version was the "zero detection of clenbuterol" proposed by the opposition party. It is currently in the stage of waiting for negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties in the Legislative Yuan. Since the ruling party insists on promoting the "conditional opening" version of the Executive Yuan, it is expected that another voting battle will be launched in the Legislative Yuan meeting in early June.

In order to promote the Executive Yuan version, the Department of Health once again issued a press release today to emphasize that, based on the standpoint of protecting the food safety of the people, the safety of imported beef is absolutely strictly controlled. Under the premise of meeting safety requirements, the origin of the beef is compulsorily labeled, giving the public absolute right to choose. If they do not want to eat beef containing ractopamine, they can choose whether to eat it through the origin label on the meat.

The Department of Health explained that foods with beef as the main ingredient will be the priority for mandatory labeling. Therefore, in the future, restaurants, snack stands and other places that directly provide food will change from voluntary labeling of the source of beef to mandatory labeling. In the case of packaged foods and bulk foods, the labeling of the origin of the "main ingredient of food" will be increased. For example, for beef jerky products processed and manufactured in Taiwan, if the main ingredient is beef and comes from Australia, the "origin of the beef jerky - Taiwan" and "origin of the beef used - Australia" must be labeled respectively.

The Council of Agriculture also stated that ractopamine is the only lean meat stimulant that can be added to feed in some countries. Since the policy direction is very clear and the principle of "separation of cattle and pigs" is adopted, the import of pork containing lean meat stimulants will never be allowed, nor will domestic businesses be allowed to use lean meat stimulants.