President Ma Ying-jeou says Taiwan must consider both public health and its need to join trade agreements when discussing the issue of imported US pork. Ma was speaking on Thursday.
Taiwan currently bans the import of pork containing leanness enhancing drug ractopamine. The US has been putting pressure on Taiwan to lift the ban since Taiwan lifted a similar ban on certain US beef products containing ractopamine.
Ma said that the government’s policy has been to separate the issues of ractopamine in beef and ractopamine in pork. He said this is because pork consumption is much higher than beef consumption in Taiwan. He also said that the ban takes into account the added impact that food additives in pork might have in Taiwan due to higher consumption of organs.
Meanwhile, the agriculture ministry says that Taiwan’s ban on pork containing ractopamine is not specifically aimed at the US.
But agriculture ministry official Chang Su-san said Thursday that Taiwan’s annual per capita consumption of beef is only 4.5kg. She said that by contrast, pork is a staple food in Taiwan, with annual per capita consumption at 35kg.
Chang said that many other heavy pork consumers like the EU, China, and Russia also ban pork containing ractopamine. Chang said that the ban also applies to domestically produced pork, and does not take the origin of pork into consideration.