Taiwan - Taiwan legislator alleges long list of drug-containing pork products

In addition to ractopamine, various other kinds of more toxic leanness enhancers have been circulating in the market in various pork products such as sausages, ground pork, and pig livers, according to an evaluation report revealed by a Kuomintang (KMT) legislator, yesterday.

KMT Legislator Tsai Cheng-yuan yesterday morning made public an evaluation conducted by I-Mei Foods Co.'s civil inspection agency. The report revealed as problematic several popular pork products from famous sellers, including Hsin Tung Yang Corp.'s sausage and some of Wellcome supermarket's pork products.

Also, according to statistics in the report, the most significant leanness-enhancer residue amount was found in pig livers, Tsai said.

He speculated that unscrupulous hog farmers in Taiwan are using salbuterol in pig rearing because the leanness enhancer is much cheaper than ractopamine, which is marketed under the commercial name Paylean.

Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta reiterated yesterday that whenever leanness enhancer residues are detected in meat products, the whole batch of product will be returned to its makers and destroyed.

Tsai Irresponsible: Wellcome

Supermarket chain store Wellcome refuted Tsai's report, accusing Tsai of being irresponsible by one-sidedly issuing information concluded by a civil organisation that is not officially certified.

In the report revealed by Tsai, the chilled pork, ground pork, streaky pork and hog livers sold at Wellcome were found to contain residue of salbuterol. Wellcome's Marketing Manager Chien Hsing-ling defended the supermarket's products, guaranteeing that all products are certified under the Certified Agricultural Standards (CAS).

Wellcome will send the accused pork products for further inspections under internationally recognised SGS standards, Chien said, emphasizing that they will use “more scientific methods” to seek and explain “the truth” to the public.

Meanwhile, Hsin Tung Yang's spokesman said his company's own tests on the same products as claimed in Tsai's report show that they all meet the government's requirements.

FDA Denies Receiving I-Mei Reports

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not received any tainted pork samples from the I-Mei laboratory, as regulations require, according to a deputy division chief at the administration, yesterday.

Meanwhile, I-Mei Foods associate manager denied that the company's laboratory had been commissioned by Tsai to test the pork products.

“Tsai did not ask I-Mei to do the tests, therefore there is no chance that we would have given him the report,” he said.

Since the ractopamine controversy arose this year, the I-Mei food safety laboratory has received several requests to test meat products for leanness enhancers. The laboratory will stick to its business ethnics and will not publicly discuss the test results, he emphasised.

I-Mei, a longstanding Taiwanese food producer, was one of the few companies whose products were untainted; thanks to its establishment of a modern laboratory that screens all its raw materials.

Grace Soong

The China Post

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