Taiwan - Taiwan requires farmers to guarantee 'no leanness enhancers in pigs'

Beginning today, all hog farmers in Taiwan are required to sign guarantees that their pigs have not been fed any leanness enhancers, prior to selling them, as part of a self-management program to ensure meat safety, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday.

All 9,800 pig farmers in Taiwan will have to provide the guarantee every time they deliver pigs to customers. Those who do not sign the guarantee will be banned from marketing their pigs, and their names will be published.

Meanwhile, violators of the newly implemented approach will be faced with stepped-up inspections, steep fines and even criminal charges, COA's Department of Animal Husbandry head Hsu Kuei-sen said.

It was during a legislative question-and-answer session that Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji pledged to bring into effect such a strict approach. The topic of leanness-enhanced pork came up as the COA revealed on March 12 that, during a recent random inspection, two Pingtung pig farmers were found to have used the leanness-enhancers ractopamine and salbuterol while raising their pigs.

Salbuterol Proven Toxic

According the COA, there currently exist 25 leanness-enhancing drugs, all of which are banned by the Taiwanese government. Among the 25, ractopamine, zilpaterol, salbuterol, and clenbuterol are the most commonly seen in Taiwan.

While ractopamine and zilpaterol are approved by certain countries as feed additives, the use of salbuterol and clenbuterol are prohibited globally due to their high toxicity, the COA said.

Echoing the COA, Lai Shiow-suey, a professor emeritus of the National Taiwan University's School of Veterinary Medicine, pointed out that “salbuterol is 2,000 times more toxic than the more commonly known ractopamine” because the drug cannot be easily metabolised by the human body, meaning it remains in the body for an extended period of time.

From today on, the COA will randomly single out “handsome-looking” pigs for inspections, and if results reveal the presence of leanness enhancers, the pig farmers responsible will be severely penalised. Such inspections will be conducted three to seven days prior to when the pig farmers apply to market their pigs, to prevent cases of “consumers having already eaten problematic pork when problems are revealed,” Hsu said.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Wang Cheng-teng acknowledged that his agency's move could come as a shock to hog farmers, and limit the number of pigs sold on the market, but he said it was implemented for the purpose of safeguarding the public's health.

Yang Kuan-chang, president of the R.O.C. Swine Association, expressed support for the measure yesterday, saying that it would be a good way to get rid of “the few rogue farmers” and regain public trust in meat safety.

Grace Soong

The China Post

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