Starting
March 20, the DOH starts up inspection of 1,000 meat products: 500 articles of
beef, 400 articles of pork, and 100 articles of duck and geese products.
All 22
cities and county governments have agreed to continue regular checks and to
cooperate in an additional island-wide inspections, said DOH Minister Chiu
Wen-ta after meeting with heads of local health bureaus yesterday.
Health
authorities will take products from grocery stores, hypermarts, traditional
markets, and restaurants, according to Pan Jyh-quan of the DOH's Food and Drug
Division.
Labs
will test for ractopamine and other banned beta-agonists. Products that violate
current food-safety regulations will be posted publicly.
Lot-by-lot
protocol: Vice Premier
Meanwhile,
a new Executive Yuan committee for food safety set the protocol of an upgrade
to border inspections.
The DOH
said Thursday that lot-by-lot inspections on beef imports may begin as early as
next Monday.
Lot-by-lot
inspections won't apply to all beef shipments, said Vice Premier Jiang Yi-huah
at the Legislative Yuan yesterday.
Lot-by-lot
applies only to imports from countries that have previous violations on record.
Under
the lot-by-lot policy, five consecutive batches must pass inspection under a
100-per-cent sampling rate. After that, sampling is dialled down to a rate of
20 per cent. If another five consecutive batches pass inspection at the
20-per-cent rate, sampling falls back to 5 per cent.
Jiang stressed
that “the net does have holes,” as lot-by-lot is not piece-by-piece inspection.
For
countries with no record of food-safety violations, sampling remains at the
original rate of 5 per cent, he said.
Jiang
is leading the committee for food safety, which the Executive Yuan announced
Thursday. The unit is charged with oversight with beef-import inspection and
with otherwise restoring public confidence in food safety.
Five
principles
Jiang
told reporters that the inter-departmental committee set five principles for
inspections: rigor, transparency, increased penalties, practicality and
expanded participation.
The
task force is negotiating to include the Council of Agriculture, consumer
protection groups and other professionals in the inspection process, according
to Jiang.
Unusual
practice, unusual times
The
step up from a 5-per-cent to a 100-per-cent check is an “unusual practice for
unusual times,” Jiang continued.
The
measure is quite rare in the international community and may trouble trade relations
with other WTO members, he said.
To
eliminate snags on the global stage, Jiang said he has asked the Ministry of
Economic Affairs to begin communicating with foreign companies.
He also
asked the DOH to assess the manpower and budgetary needs of the new inspection
policy.
Jiang
said that next week he will review the new lot-by-lot checks on-site.
Enru
Lin
The
China Post
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