KMT Chairman Ma: Decisions on U.S. Beef Imports Issue to Be Made on the Basis of Professional Discussions

News Release

KMT Chairman Ma: Decisions on U.S. Beef Imports Issue to Be Made on the Basis of Professional Discussions

Source: KMT Culture and Communications Committee

Mar. 01, 2012

After being briefed by Chen Bao-ji (陳保基), Chairman of the Council of Agriculture, on “The U.S. Beef Issue-Meat Products Containing Ractopamine Residue” during the KMT’s Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday, February 29^th, KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) reiterated the government’s three fundamental principles on the issue, namely, the government had no preset stance or any timetable to resolve the issue, nor had any promises been made to the U.S. He also stressed that we had a rational government and society, so we should calmly and reasonably study whether or not feed additives such as ractopamine (Paylean) posed any risk to human health. In addition, we should refer to how other countries handled the same issue while quietly waiting for professional discussions and research results upon which the government would make a final decision.

He explained that Taiwan had banned ractopamine as a feed additive in 2006 and informed the World Trade Organization. Afterwards, the Department of Health (DOH) detected ractopamine residue in imported U.S. beef last year at border control points, and since then, U.S. beef containing traces of ractopamine was not allowed to be imported into Taiwan, which caused concerns in the U.S.

With regard to the government’s current mode of handling the issue, Chairman Ma emphasized once again that, first of all, the government would not make any assumptions in advance and all decisions would be made on the basis of professional considerations; second, there was no timetable, and the government would respect the agreement reached between the Legislative Yuan and the Executive Yuan that the latter would not lift the ban on imports of meat products containing ractopamine residue “in the near future” by means of an executive order before the Legislative Yuan completed its legislative action on amendments or legislated new laws on related issues; third, no promises on the U.S. beef issue had been made to the U.S. side.

Ma stated that since ractopamine residue was detected last year in imported U.S. beef, the DOH maintained its standard practice of conducting inspections of U.S. beef, and any meat products in which traces of ractopamine were detected would not be cleared by customs. When receiving U.S. officials or Congressmen, Ma added, he always responded that Taiwan had prohibited the use of such feed additives, so if the government wanted to lift the ban, it was necessary to explain the government’s reasoning to the public beforehand as food safety and public health were the government’s top concerns. “We haven’t made any promises to the U.S. side,” reiterated Ma.

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