Taiwan amends law to reinstate partial ban on US beef

Jan 5, 2010, 8:24 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan's parliament on Tuesday passed an amended food safety bill which would reinstate a ban on some US beef imports, prompting concern from Washington.

Under the revised Food Sanitation Act, Taiwan would ban the import of certain cattle parts from countries where mad cow disease has been recorded in the previous 10 years. Imports from the US, where the last recorded case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, was in 2006, would be affected until 2016.

The ban would apply to cattle skulls, brain, eyes, spines, minced beef and offal, all of which are susceptible of carrying BSE.

In October, Taipei lifted its import restrictions on US beef from cattle under 30 months old, following lenghty negotiations with Washington, triggering protests from the public and consumer groups. The bans had been put in place following the first US case of mad cow disease in 2003.

The ruling Chinese Nationalist Party's Huang Yi-chiao, who proposed the bill, called it 'a milestone in the history of Taiwan's legislature.'

The recent move to impose new restrictions on US beef imports has prompted concern in Washington. Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said he was 'troubled' in a letter to President Ma Ying-jeou last week.

'I [...] hope that the provisions of the proposed amendment to the Food Sanitation Act that are inconsistent with science and Taiwan's bilateral obligations will be removed', said the letter.