Sudden Lift of U.S. Pork Import Restrictions: Will Our People Sacrifice Family Happiness Too？
United Daily News, September 3, 2020
Executive Yuan Spokesman Ting Yi-ming said in today’s press conference after the Cabinet meeting that the U.S. frozen pork viscera is not to Taiwan’s taste and no business would import them to Taiwan. Therefore, there is little chance that postpartum women would consume pork liver or kidney from the United States. If postpartum women happen to eat them, their family happiness will probably be affected. Can the Tsai administration effectively ban the “laundering of place of origin” to prevent mixing up of U.S. pork with domestic pork? Is it true that we can only count on ourselves for our own health and our family happiness?
The sneak announcement of President Tsai Ing-wen to lift restrictions on U.S. pork and beef import has caused a huge uproar in Taiwan. While the Tsai administration is doing everything to put out the fire, the contradictory policy explanations and asynchronous measures are an embarrassment revealing a serious lack of coordination among different government agencies.
While many local governments in Taiwan are citing the Local Government Act to ban U.S. pork containing ractopamine, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) insists that local government cannot set its own standards. While the MOHW maintains that the U.S. pork is safe, the Ministry of Education, Taiwan Railways and Taiwan High Speed Rail all stress that they are going to use domestic pork first. While the MOHW says only whole hog will be imported, the Council of Agriculture is racing to set up viscera import standards and later claims it is just a precaution. As for the import standards, the Executive Yuan published the standards for acceptable residue of ractopamine for U.S. pork meat, liver, kidney and fat last week. Other parts must meet the standards of zero-tolerance under current regulations. Since the government is going to allow import of whole hog, the existing regulations have to be amended hastily.
The contradiction is that if ractopamine is really safe to use, then why the Council of Agriculture only allow its use on U.S. hog feed, but not on domestic hog feed? Isn’t it “one country, two systems” for hogs? If ractopamine is not safe, then why do we have to sacrifice the health of our citizens? Especially now we know the consumption of U.S. pork liver and kidney may affect postpartum women and damage family happiness. We have to ask what is the real purpose for the Tsai administration to lift restrictions on U.S. pork import.
Premier Su Tseng-chang, in an attempt to calm the public, demanded concerned government agencies to enhance border inspections on pork import and place of origin labelling. When President Tsai Ing-wen are opening our gate to welcome the import of U.S. pork containing ractopamine, how much can Premier Su do with his broom at the border?
As a remedy to safeguard the national health, the public is demanding the government to strictly enforce the place of origin labelling of pork import. Although Premier Su has given that instruction, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung honestly said “it is easier said than done.” The point is once the U.S. pork containing ractopamine enters Taiwan food chain, not even Premier Su can guarantee that the pork will not slip into supermarkets, night markets, street vendors, or food processing plants of all sizes, legal and illegal. How can a regular consumer of pork ball soup or intestine vermicelli tell the difference whether the pork is from local or the U.S.?
The U.S. pork import will have an impact on the local hog-farming industry. Many people believe that Taiwan consumers are accustomed to local pork taste so its price will go up. In comparison, the relatively cheap U.S. pork, whether clearly labelled or not, will be sold to traditional markets, sunset markets, street vendors, buffet shops and food processing plants. These places are where the grassroots people do their shopping and it will undoubtedly cast a shadow on the food for the common people too. This is exactly the main concern of many housewives.
The Tsai administration bows down to the United States by lifting the restrictions on import of U.S. pork containing ractopamine unconditionally and without necessary supporting measures. In the beginning the public only need to worry about health, now they may need to sacrifice family happiness. This matter has just become much more serious.