마잉주 정부의 미국산 쇠고기 광우병 위생검역 완화 협상으로 인해 한바탕 홍역을 치룬 대만에서 미국산 쇠고기 혀부위 수입을 둘러싸고 다시 논란이 발생했다는 소식입니다.
미국산 쇠고기 혀부위 453kg의 대만 수입이 최초로 허용됨에 따라 대만 정부는 전수검사를 통해 안전성을 보장하겠다고 발표했지만, 야당인 민진당(DPP) 의원들은 소의 혀부위도 내장으로 간주해서 수입을 중단시켜야 한다고 주장하고 있습니다.
대만정부와 미국정부는 혀(tongues), 음경(penises), 고환(testicles), 꼬리(tails), 힘줄(tendons), 횡격막( skirt=diaphragm) 등 6개 부위는 내장에 포함되지 않는다는 입장입니다.
대만의 검역당국은 미국산 소 혀 부위 중에서 혀 안쪽 뿌리 부근의 유곽돌기(circumvallate papillae)를 의무적으로 제거하기 때문에 안전성에 문제가 없다고 밝히고 있습니다. 참고로 소의 혀는 광우병 특정위험물질(SRM) 중에서 편도조직이 일부 분포하기 때문에 안전성 논란이 지속적으로 제기되고 있는 부위입니다.
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First local import permit issued for U.S. beef offal
출처 : Chinapost.com.tw Updated Tuesday, April 20, 2010 9:18 am TWN, The China Post news staff
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2010/04/20/253168/First-local.htm
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Ministry of Economic Affairs has issued the first import permit for 453 kilograms of beef offal, and health authorities will conduct strict batch-by-batch inspections on U.S. beef tongues over which the public has doubts, MOEA officials said yesterday.
To help ease any lingering public doubt about U.S. beef products, the Department of Health (DOH), the MOEA and the Council of Agriculture (COA) held a joint press conference earlier Monday to explain the existing standards.
Six types of beef offal such as beef tongues, penises, testicles, tails, tendons and skirt (diaphragm) are not classified as internal organs, so imports of those non high-risk beef products will be accepted, they said.
Lawmakers of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) argued that the beef tongues and penises should be classified as internal organs, which would make them illegal to import.
The DOH said it decided last May that beef tongues are not classified as internal organs — unlike thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic organs, which are not allowed into Taiwan under a protocol signed with Washington last October.
Hsu Tien-lai, director general of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine under the COA, said that high-risk circumvallate papillae, toward the base of the tongue, are required to be removed from beef tongues before entering Taiwan.
The U.S. announced on April 16 that exports of beef products to Taiwan will include bones with meat, hanging tenders, tongues, penises, testicles, tails, tendons and diaphragms from cattle younger than 30 months and slaughtered on or after April 1, seen as having a lower risk of carrying mad cow disease.
Strict Measures to Secure Safe Beef Products
Economics Minister Shih Yen-shiang said at the economic committee session of the Legislative Yuan that the government will enforce strict measures, including “three controls and five certifications,” in accordance with the existing law, to assure imports of U.S. beef products such as tongues and testicles are safe for consumers.
The measures set controls on beef imports at the source, at borders and in markets, while the five certifications refer to verifying certification documents, checking that shipments are marked with detailed product information, opening a high percentage of cartons of imported beef to check the product, conducting food safety tests and being able to get information on suspected problem products immediately.
Asked about the U.S. government’s announcement that beef exports to Taiwan will include tongues, testicles and tails, Shih cited Department of Health data as explaining that these products are not categorized as “internal organs” — which are not allowed to be exported to Taiwan according to a Taiwan-U.S. protocol signed last year.
The Bureau of Foreign Trade will decide whether or not to allow the import of such U.S. beef products based on the existing standard, Shih said.
Lawmaker Ting Shou-chung of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) suggested that the government take immediate action to prohibit the beef parts from entering Taiwan to prevent public outrage.
Taiwan’s agreement last year to lift its ban on U.S. bone-in beef and certain other beef products, including ground beef and offal, sparked a huge public outcry.
The ban was imposed in 2003 due to fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease.
Under public pressure, the KMT-controlled legislature amended the Act Governing Good Sanitation Jan. 5 to deny the importing of beef products to Taiwan — including ground beef and other beef parts such as skulls, brains, eyes and spines — from countries with documented BSE cases over the past decades.
