American beef storm! New Taipei City Health Bureau inspects 70 more stores

After a well-known steakhouse was found to use American beef containing ractopamine, the New Taipei City Health Bureau divided its forces into five groups on the 3rd to inspect 70 imported beef stores and assisted them in labeling the origin of the meat. A total of 6 imported American beef products were sampled, plus 2 pieces of Australian beef from Wangpin and Meiqi Food on the evening of the 2nd, totaling 8 pieces. The inspection results are expected to be released within a week.

After a well-known steakhouse was found to use American beef containing ractopamine, the New Taipei City Health Bureau divided its forces into five groups to inspect 70 imported beef stores. (Photo courtesy of New Taipei City Health Bureau)

Zhou Jianming, section chief of the Food and Drug Administration Division of the New Taipei City Health Bureau, pointed out that this time the health bureau inspectors went to the jurisdiction and inspected a total of 70 stores, including the well-known Exotic Cuisine Hall on the 9th floor of Far Eastern Department Store in Banqiao District, and inspected "Falachi", "Blue House Japanese Cuisine" and "Golden Three Wheat"; Far Eastern Department Store's "Toros", "Wa Min Ju Food House" and other 5 restaurants. In addition to sampling meat and taking it back for inspection, the bureau also required the merchants to indicate the origin of imported meat to facilitate public identification.

In addition, the Health Bureau continued to investigate the illegal meat products of two meat importers, "兆盛" and "永煜", and found that the illegal meat products were sold to steak houses, restaurants, hot pot restaurants, barbecue restaurants, etc. in six counties and cities, including New Taipei City, Keelung City, Taipei City, Taoyuan County, Yilan County and Hsinchu County, with a total outflow of 12,000 kilograms of imported meat.

In addition to notifying the relevant county and city health bureaus to continue the investigation, 11 downstream restaurants in New Taipei City have also been inspected. Except for the three that have closed or are not operating and need to continue to be clarified, the other eight operators have replaced the meat with Australian and New Zealand meat.

It is reported that American beef containing clenbuterol has been detected throughout Taiwan, and four American beef importers have been included in the list for batch inspection. Among them, Shusen Company, an importer located in Taipei City, has been found to have three pieces of illegal American beef and was issued the first fine of NT$60,000 by the Taipei City Health Bureau on the 2nd. The Taipei City Health Bureau has asked Shusen to manage the products independently and conduct inspections on each batch to ensure they are qualified before they can be sold.

The Department of Health also called on all businesses to exercise self-management and clearly label the origin of meat products.

The Department of Health also called on all businesses to exercise self-management and clearly label the origin of meat products. The marking method can be cards, marks (labels) or signboards (boards), etc., and can be hung, erected (inserted), pasted or other methods that are sufficient to identify, or marked on store entrance notices, signboards, or menus.

The New Taipei City Health Bureau also provides free templates for collection. Beef restaurant owners can obtain stickers from the 29th District Health Center starting next week and affix them in a conspicuous place at the entrance of their store. If businesses fail to cooperate in labeling the source of meat products, they will violate the announcement made by the central competent authority in accordance with Article 17-1 and will be fined not less than NT$30,000 but not more than NT$150,000.

If the violation occurs again within one year, the business or factory registration license may be revoked. If the labeling is false, it will violate the provisions of Article 19, Paragraph 1 or Paragraph 3 and be fined not less than NT$40,000 but not more than NT$200,000. If the violation occurs again within one year, the business or factory registration license may be revoked.