TAIPEI: The first batch of US bone-in beef, which is expected to arrive in Taiwan in the next few days, will be checked in accordance with the inspection procedures for other imported foods, an official of the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Sunday.

The COA, in collaboration with customs authorities and the Bureau of Standards, Meteorology and Inspection, will check US bone-in beef products upon entry to ensure they are 100 percent safe for local consumers, according to Hsu Tien-lai, director-general of the COA's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine.

Normally, samples of bovine brain tissue are used in tests to detect the presence of the abnormal prion protein associated with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. However, BSE has never been detected in beef itself; therefore it has never been used to test for prion protein, Hsu said.

When the first batch of US bone-in beef arrives at Taiwan's ports of entry, it will be subjected to the same inspection and quarantine procedures as other imported foods, because it does not pose a BSE risk, he added.

The procedures will include random checks on the shipments to ensure that the products conform to the information on the certificates. Samples will be taken for laboratory testing mainly to determine the microbiological condition of the beef and whether it contains any drugs, Hsu added.

The joint inspections will take approximately one or two hours. The drug tests will take 1-2 days and the microbiological examination about 3-4 days, he said. Only after all the procedures have been completed in about 4-7 days, would the bone-in beef products go on sale in Taiwan, he stressed.

Taiwan lifted a ban on US bone-in beef, as well as on offal and ground beef from cattle younger than 30 months, on November 2.

China Daily-CNA

(HK Edition 11/24/2009 page2)