Decision on Canadian beef issue still being mulled

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/17
By: Chang Ming-hsuan, Tang Pei-chun and Lilian Wu

Taipei, June 17 (CNA) Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration confirmed Friday it sent officials to check on the safety of Canadian beef amid reports that a ban on Canadian beef products will be lifted next month.

Taiwan banned imports of Canadian beef products in February 2015 following the confirmation of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) — better known as mad cow disease — in a cow in Alberta.

Pan Chih-kuan (潘志寬), head of the FDA’s Food Safety Division, said Friday that Canada, hoping to get the ban lifted, requested last year that a risk assessment be conducted.

The FDA then sent officials to Canada last November to check on its beef and found that everything was OK. The results of the visit were submitted to the Executive Yuan, according to Pan.     [FULL  STORY]