Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 3/6/14


The United States continues to pressure Taiwan into establishing a maximum residue level (MRL) on the use of ractopamine in pork. This, according to the 2014 Trade Policy Agenda and 2013 Annual Report, which was prepared by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and released Tuesday.

Though it acknowledged that Taiwan has yet to establish an MRL for ractopamine in pork, the administration credited Taiwan for establishing an MRL for ractopamine use in beef in September 2012, calling it “an important step in rebuilding confidence in Taiwan as a reliable trading partner.”

Although the use of ractopamine is approved in the United States, “Taiwan had maintained an import ban on beef and pork products containing traces of ractopamine, despite conducting a risk assessment that found no health risk and notifying the WTO of its intention to establish a MRL for ractopamine in beef and pork in 2007,” the report says. “The United States will continue to engage Taiwan closely in 2014 to seek resolution of these and other high-priority policy concerns.”

“The United States has long called for all countries, including Taiwan, to adopt international standards for ractopamine,” a USTR spokeswoman told Meatingplace in an emailed statement.

The news comes nearly one year after Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs reaffirmed its opposition to imports of U.S. pork containing the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine during talks under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).

Those talks resumed after a six-year hiatus prompted by Taiwan’s 2007 ban on beef from cattle raised with ractopamine. In August 2012, Taiwan set an allowable maximum residue limit for ractopamine in beef at 10 parts per billion, allowing U.S. beef exports to Taiwan to resume.

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