From ＂Lai Pig＂ to ＂Jia Niu＂, food insecurity hangs over Taiwan Province.
Xinhua News Agency, Taipei, June 20th Title: From "Lai Pig" to "Jia Niu", food insecurity hangs over Taiwan Province.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Jun Shang Hao
At the beginning of June, I went to Taipei for an interview, and found that some restaurants posted the sign "We use Taiwan Province pig" in a conspicuous position. The clerk solved the reporter’s confusion in one sentence: "We don’t need ‘ Lai pig ’ La! "
"Lai pig" is the name of Taiwan Province people for pork using ractopamine (commonly known as lean meat essence). Despite strong opposition from all walks of life on the island, Democratic Progressive Party authorities officially opened the import of American pork and American beef over 30 months old using ractopamine on January 1, 2021.
After the block was invalid, all sectors of society hoped that the authorities could clearly mark the imported "Lai pig" as containing ractopamine, but it was still rejected by the authorities. The competent department of the authorities said that it can be distinguished by marking the place of origin. In order to retain consumers, many supermarkets, stores and restaurants hang signs such as "Taiwan Province Pig" and "cattle from a certain place".
In a store in Guangfu North Road, Taipei, the "Taiwan Province Pig" logo is hung in the meat area, indicating that it does not contain ractopamine (data photo). Xinhua news agency
Statistics from Taiweifu Department show that Taiwan Province has imported nearly 2,000 tons of American pork and 1,700 tons of American pig offal this year, accounting for nearly 5% and 14.5% of imported meat respectively. Paradoxically, last month, the Taiwan Province Consumer Culture and Education Foundation randomly selected 289 pieces of pork-containing foods on the market, but could not find a single piece of pork labeled as American-made. In contrast, 8 pieces of French pork with equivalent imports can be found. This result greatly puzzled the Consumer Foundation, questioning the fear of "washing the place of origin" behind it and calling on the authorities to strengthen supervision.
At the beginning of the controversy over the release of "Lai Pig", the Taiwan authorities offered "all-round management measures for imported pork" such as factory inspection in the United States, new item numbers, batch-by-batch inspection, clear labeling and strict inspection, in order to stabilize the people’s hearts.
Wu Rongda, chairman of the Consumer Foundation, said that in the past two years, there are still many unclear links in the entry of American pigs into the food market in Taiwan Province, and it is difficult for consumers to know the circulation process and whereabouts of these pigs.
In April this year, Taiwan’s "Food and Drug Administration" announced the draft of opening up the import of all-cow-age beef in Canada, which caused consumers’ concern. According to the data of the Consumer Foundation, in December 2021, cattle were infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (commonly known as "mad cow disease") again in Canada, and many countries suspended the import of Canadian beef.
Taiwan’s "Food and Drug Administration" assessed that it was "acceptable risk" to open Canada’s beef imports. Zhang Zhiming, chairman of the Taiwan Province Beef Cattle Association, said that the association had raised doubts with the Food and Drug Administration that opening up would affect consumers’ confidence and the survival of the island’s operators, and the proposal was postponed, but there was no response.
On June 15, Taiwan’s administrative agencies made a decision to open the import of all-cow-age beef in Canada. In this regard, the Consumer Foundation expressed solemn opposition, and said that if the authorities insisted on ignoring public opinion, they would appeal to consumers to launch a refusal action to defend people’s food safety and health rights.
Democratic Progressive Party authorities, who boast that they are "the best communicators and listen to public opinions", why do they repeatedly violate public opinions and open up food imports that may have problems regardless of potential risks? Lin Zilun, a spokesman for Taiwan’s administrative agency, said that opening Canadian beef imports for all ages would help Taiwan Province’s "international participation".
So what exactly is the help? Mason Lee, the main official of Taiwan’s foreign exchange department, made it quite clear: Canada will be the chairman of CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement) next year, and opening up the import of all-cow-age beef from Canada will have a "positive effect" on Taiwan Province’s entry into CPTPP.
The United Daily News questioned that the reason for opening up is "international participation" from "Lai pig", "nuclear food" to "adding cattle". In the eyes of Democratic Progressive Party authorities, how much is the health of Taiwan Province people worth per catty? "International participation" and people’s food safety are two different things. Why should people’s food safety be sacrificed with the empty check of "international participation"? Lai Shibao, a representative of China Kuomintang public opinion, said: "Now ‘ Lai pig ’ After eating, there is no shadow of joining international organizations. "
Just as the flow of pigs in the United States is unclear, in order to lower the price of pigs and reduce inflationary pressure, the agricultural authorities of the Taiwan authorities have introduced measures to subsidize 6 yuan (NTD, the same below) per kilogram to encourage farmers to import foreign pork, with an estimated subsidy of 50,000 tons before the end of September.
The editorial of the United Daily News pointed out that imported pigs had a price advantage, and pig farmers in Taiwan Province were not allowed to use clenbuterol. The authorities used tax money to subsidize imported pork, which was a double blow to pig farmers in Taiwan Province.
Taiwan Province people often eat seafood also began to shadow. In January this year, the Japanese government set the discharge time of Fukushima nuclear polluted water as "this spring and summer". Taiwan’s "Original Energy Association" recently said that some nuclear polluted water will reach Taiwan Province waters as soon as one or two years after discharge, and the maximum concentration impact is four years after discharge, but it has "no radiation safety impact" on Taiwan Province.
On the morning of June 13th, nearly 100 people from various groups in Taiwan Province held a press conference at the location of Japan-Taiwan Province Exchange Association to protest against Japan’s plan to discharge nuclear polluted water into the sea. The participating groups resolutely oppose the import of Japanese "nuclear food" and the discharge of nuclear polluted water from Japan.
Cheng Renhong, a professor at China Culture University, wrote that if radioactive substances remain in the nuclear polluted water, they will gather in the food chain, and long-term accumulation will harm human health. Democratic Progressive Party authorities should take the initiative to check the food safety of consumers and strengthen radiation monitoring of imported food and fishery products, which is the unshirkable responsibility.