American beef controversy! Civil society groups call for supporting measures

The import of American beef into Taiwan has sparked a heated discussion about ractopamine. The Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health held a regular "Food Hygiene Safety and Nutrition Advisory" meeting on the 7th. Regarding the case of clenbuterol, the experts and scholars attending the meeting did not reach a specific consensus. However, experts attending the meeting suggested that the scientific reasons and concerns for setting daily tolerance and residue tolerance standards should be clarified. In addition, risk assessment should also differentiate the impact on high-risk groups, different ages and food intake, etc. Other scholars believe that the government should have an obligation to inform the public and the public also has the right to choose, and once the ban is lifted, the origin should be honestly labeled.

Due to the high pressure of the issue of ractopamine-containing American beef, the Executive Yuan decided to set up an inter-departmental group to discuss the issue. The complexity of the issue is no longer a simple health issue.

Wu Xiuying, deputy director of the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health, emphasized that according to my country's Food Sanitation Management Law, American ground beef and beef offal cannot be imported, and the Department of Health has never discussed further expanding the opening of American beef items. The Department of Health will collect opinions from experts, scholars and non-governmental organizations at this meeting as a reference for its policy formulation. Due to the high pressure of the issue of ractopamine-containing American beef, the Executive Yuan decided to set up an inter-departmental group to discuss the issue. The complexity of the issue is no longer a simple health issue.

Those invited this time include consumer representatives, toxicology and veterinary experts, etc. A total of 23 people, including Su Jinxia, ​​chairman of the Consumers' Education Foundation, Lin Jieliang, director of the Toxicology Department of Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Xu Huiyu, director of the Food Nutrition Group of the Tung Foundation, Sun Luxi, professor of the Institute of Food Science and Technology of National Taiwan University, and Lai Xiusui, professor emeritus of the Department of Veterinary Medicine of National Taiwan University, expressed different opinions on clenbuterol and cledocopamine.

The meeting did not reach a conclusion, but experts and scholars at the meeting suggested that the scientific reasons and concerns for setting daily tolerance and residue tolerance standards should be clarified; risk assessment should also distinguish the impact on high-risk groups, different ages and food intake; other scholars believe that the government should have an obligation to inform the public, and the public also has the right to choose, and once the ban is lifted, the origin should be honestly labeled.

Lai Hsiu-sui, professor emeritus of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at National Taiwan University, said that some domestic farmers privately use the "more toxic" ingredients of clenbuterol and salbutamol. In comparison, ractopamine is much safer when used in safe doses. The general public confuses different types of clenbuterol. The government cannot be impatient now. It should take the time to explain the real harms of different types of clenbuterol so that the public will be able to judge whether they can accept it.

She suggested that before setting standards, the Council of Agriculture must lift the ban on clenbuterol, or lift the ban on the drug in the United States, so that standards can be set. If standards really need to be set, the current standards of the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of JECFA, like the Japanese standards, are already very strict. If Taiwan is to set standards, it can only be based on this.

Director Xu Huiyu of the Food and Nutrition Group of the Tung Foundation said that the issue of clenbuterol is not only a food safety issue, but also involves agriculture, politics and other aspects. If the government agrees to lift the ban on ractopamine, it should also implement reasonable use, strict control, labeling and monitoring to safeguard the health of the people.