American beef continues to be popular! Scholars urge the government to conduct risk assessment

The issue of American beef is a hot topic. The third inter-ministerial technical advisory group meeting of the Executive Yuan will be held on the 3rd. The Taiwan Society for Risk Analysis held a press conference on the 2nd, calling on the government to follow the World Health Organization's food safety management standards and conduct open, transparent scientific risk assessment, risk management and communication. It also suggested that a scientific risk assessment committee that the people can trust should be set up, with at least half of its members being experts recommended by the agriculture and livestock industry, the food industry, consumer groups, animal protection groups, academia, and relevant organizations concerned with this issue.

Secretary-General Professor Wu Kunyu suggested holding an open citizen consensus meeting to consolidate the will of the people and jointly discuss a ractopamine risk management decision that is in the best interests of the people. (Photo by Zhang Shijie)

Professor Zhou Guitian, director of the Taiwan Society for Risk Analysis, pointed out that the government's recent policy of opening up imports of American beef containing ractopamine failed to follow the World Health Organization's food safety decision-making process standards, which led to the incident escalating, causing many controversies and increasing social costs.

Currently, there is a lack of consensus internationally on the existing health risk assessment results of ractopamine, that is, the safe intake amount. The government should update scientific information and conduct an objective and highly scientific health risk assessment. The assessment process must be completely open and transparent, and representatives of relevant groups concerned about this policy should be encouraged and welcomed to participate in the assessment process in order to gain the trust of the public and relevant groups and avoid the emergence of many doubts.

In contrast, the inter-ministerial expert technical committee currently led by the Council of Agriculture is not transparent in terms of the expert committee qualification, selection, meeting discussions and resolution processes. In addition, the government is currently conducting a risk assessment in a black box operation, and its conclusions will be difficult to gain the trust of the public. These are serious violations of WHO food safety management standards and risk analysis decision-making processes centered on public participation.

Professor Wu Kun-yu, secretary general of the Taiwan Society for Risk Analysis, also pointed out that the government experienced controversy in 2009 when it opened up imports of U.S. bone-in beef and related products, but this time during the policy review process for opening up imports of U.S. beef containing ractopamine, it went even further and failed to conduct a scientific health risk assessment, let alone risk communication.

As a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Taiwan should abide by WTO norms. Under the principle of equality between trade and public health security, our government has the right to implement highly scientific health risk assessments that can withstand international scrutiny and, when necessary, to set stricter standards than those of international organizations to protect the health of its citizens. However, the government's current practice goes against the international trend.

The Taiwan Society for Risk Analysis recommends that the government discuss the direction and projects of scientific health risk assessment based on the Scientific Risk Assessment Committee meeting, and that the meeting process should be fully open in accordance with the principle of transparency. Based on the conclusions of this meeting, and in accordance with the principles of transparency and fairness, a professional risk assessment team will be publicly selected to conduct a scientific health risk assessment of ractopamine based on the best scientific information and local data.

At the same time, the government should conduct a public review of the scientific risk assessment report after it is released through the Scientific Risk Assessment Committee. The review conclusion should suggest areas where information is insufficient and ways to improve the assessment process and the scope of application of the assessment report. In addition, the government should convene representatives from all sectors of society and stakeholders in ractopamine risks in accordance with democratic decision-making procedures, hold an open citizen consensus meeting to consolidate the will of the people and jointly discuss a ractopamine risk management decision that is in the best interests of the people.