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Taiwan deems U.S. beef safe following BSE audit
Story Date: 5/31/2012
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Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 5/30/12
A delegation from Taiwan has concluded that U.S. beef is safe following a tour of American facilities prompted by the most recent discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, according to a report by the Taipei Times.
The seven-member team visited slaughterhouses that account for 65 percent of Taiwan’s U.S. beef imports, as well as cattle farms and feed producers across the United States, Watson Sung, a member of Taiwan’s Agriculture Council and head of the delegation, was quoted as saying.
The 23-day trip was prompted by the fourth case of BSE in the United States in April. The delegation sought to learn more about U.S. safeguards. Sung is quoted as saying he found they were “very rigorous and efficient.”
The delegation said it found an oversight at a Kansas-based slaughterhouse in its method for removing cattle tonsils, but said U.S. authorities immediately corrected it, according to the report.
Taiwan was among many importing countries to ban U.S. beef in 2003 after the first BSE case was discovered. The country reopened to imports of boneless U.S. beef from cattle younger than 30 months in April 2005. Two months later, a second case of BSE in the United States prompted Taiwan to impose another ban. The country resumed imports of boneless beef from cattle younger than 30 months in 2006. In late 2009, Taiwan began to allow imports of bone-in beef.
Washington continues to seek wider access to the Taiwanese market. The government and industry also have lobbied Taiwan to lift a ban on beef containing ractopamine.
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