TAIPEI: Taiwan issued a permit Tuesday for a batch of Canadian beef to enter its market, for which sales of beef from Canada were banned until July 8 after that country was hit by mad cow disease outbreaks in February.
It is the first batch of Canadian beef given the green light to enter Taiwan since the ban was lifted. The shipment weighs 1,144 kilograms, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Hsiao Hui-wen, a division chief at the FDA, said an importer applied Sept. 2 for product inspection for the imported beef at Customs.
After four days of review of label data and safety certificates, and the implementation of sample inspections, FDA inspectors found no regulations to have been violated. As a result, the agency approved the safety of the product Tuesday and issued the import permit, Hsiao said.
It is the only batch of Canadian beef for which an import permit has been applied since Taiwan lifted its ban, she added.
To safeguard the health of local people, the government sets several conditions for imports of Canadian beef, including that the beef must be from healthy cows that have passed checks by veterinarians before slaughter, according to the FDA.
The cows must be younger than 30 months old, must be cleansed of “certain risky substances” before slaughter, and must be raised at farms permitted to export products to Taiwan, the FDA said.
Also, every batch of beef has to be produced under the supervision of official veterinarians of the exporting country to guarantee that the product meets regulations for export to Taiwan. Each batch must have safety certificates signed by Canadian official vets, the FDA added.
