The US beef case is accelerating! The Legislative Yuan will review each item on the 29th

In order to speed up the handling of the issue of imported American beef, Tsai Chin-lung, convener of the Legislative Yuan's Health and Environment Committee, decided to change the agenda and review the draft amendment to Article 11 of the Food Sanitation Management Act line by line starting from the 29th.

The Legislative Yuan will begin reviewing the draft amendment to Article 11 of the Food Sanitation Management Act line by line starting from the 29th, which is related to whether to lift the ban on imported beef containing ractopamine. (Photography by Zhang Yawen)

The issue of imported American beef containing ractopamine has attracted much attention. The Health and Environmental Protection Committee will hold a public hearing on the amendment of the Food Sanitation Management Act on the 28th. It was originally planned to visit Taichung Customs, supermarkets, shopping malls, etc. the next day to inspect the meat sampling process, terminal sales, and labeling as a reference for the amendment of the law. However, convener Cai Jinlong said that the inspection trip could not be carried out due to some problems in communication and coordination, and he decided to change the agenda to review the bill.

The Executive Yuan has recently sent its amendment proposals for Article 11 of the Esophageal Act to the Legislative Yuan. In the "zero detection" version of the proposal by several legislators, the text "except for those that are determined to be harmless to human health in accordance with the safety tolerance standards set by the central competent authority" was added. Therefore, if ractopamine is not considered a banned drug such as clenbuterol, the safe tolerance will be determined by the Department of Health. In addition, "mandatory labeling" will be included in the law, and a new Article 17-1 will be added.

However, even KMT legislators believe that the Executive Yuan's revised opinions are simply "blank authorizations" and will be very difficult to pass. Tsai Chin-lung believes that the revised opinions are provided by the party caucus to party legislators for reference, and a party caucus meeting should be held in the near future to build consensus.

Democratic Progressive Party legislator Zhao Tianlin questioned why the Executive Yuan, since it had already submitted its legislative amendment proposals, was unwilling to send a version to the Legislative Yuan? The Democratic Progressive Party caucus will also hold a caucus meeting tomorrow at noon to discuss countermeasures.