Taiwan to consider allowing U.S. beef imports with small amounts of feed additive ractopamine, but additive would still be banned in other kinds of meat, government says

Andrew Rogers

LOS ANGELES , March 6, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) – On March 5, the government of Taiwan announced that it may consider establishing a maximum ractopamine limit in exports of U.S. beef, The Wall Street Journal reported March 5.

Currently, beef imports containing any amount of ractopamine are banned.

Under the proposed regulation, the origin of ractopamine-containing beef will have to be clearly indicated on the label. Ractopamine would still be banned in all other meat imports.

The cabinet’s suggestions will have to be debated by the legislature before potentially becoming law, the Taiwanese government added.

Taiwan has banned the import of beef made from U.S. cattle above the age of 30 months as a precaution against bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow" disease.

Taiwan first began leveling bans against the import of U.S. beef in December 2003 after there was a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the U.S.

In 2009, the ban was eased to allow the import of beef from cattle that had been slaughtered before the age of 30 months.

The U.S. considers Taiwan’s restrictions on U.S. beef as an impediment to attempts to increase bilateral trade, and have been pushing for their removal.

The primary source of this article is The Wall Street Journal, New York, New York, on March 5, 2012.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.