TFDA to double checks after banned additive found in Taisugar pork

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) The Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) said Wednesday that it will double random inspections of pork products on the market after traces of the banned additive cimbuterol were found in meat sold by Taiwan Sugar Corp. (Taisugar).

The TFDA's tests confirmed earlier Wednesday the presence of cimbuterol around the detection limit of 0.001 parts per million (ppm) in the same pack of Taisugar pork slices previously found to contain the banned additive during tests conducted by the health bureau in Taichung, according to TFDA Director-General Wu Show-mei (吳秀梅) at a press conference.

The TFDA conducted three tests on the sample of the frozen pork product which detected cimbuterol trace levels at 0.0013 ppm, 0.0014 ppm and 0.0014 ppm, respectively, rounded to 0.001 ppm, Wu said.

However, Wu argued that "this is an isolated case," as that from Feb. 2 to Feb. 6, several government agencies including the Ministry of Agriculture took 70 Taisugar pork products for sample testing, with 29 still undergoing testing, while no cimbuterol was found in other tested samples.

Noting that only one pack of the pork product tested positive for the banned additive and its trace levels were very low, Wu said the public has no reason to fear about the safety of eating pork during the Lunar New Year festivities.

In addition, Wu said the TFDA has been stepping up random testing of commercially available pork products, by doubling the sample size from 2,000 to 4,000 items, with immediate effect.

Exposure to cimbuterol may cause skin and respiratory irritation, according to the TFDA.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said Wednesday that this is an isolated case rather than a large-scale food safety incident.

Hsueh said that an expert meeting will be convened after the Lunar New Year holiday to look into the cause of the problem.

The TFDA conducted the testing after health officials in Taichung said last week that they had found 0.002 ppm of the additive in the samples of the Taisugar pork product.

The Taichung Health Bureau also carried out retesting Tuesday on samples from the same pack as the previously found contaminated pork which showed the presence of 0.002 ppm of the prohibited additive, the city government revealed at a press conference Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, Cabinet spokesman Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) said in a social media post that so far, tests on 298 pork samples taken nationwide for sampling all showed no detection of the banned additive and called the discovery of cimbuterol in the same pack of the Taisugar pork slices an isolated case.

Meanwhile, Taisugar General Manager Chen Li-jen (陳立人) indicated that none of the 300 pork samples it took for testing had been found to contain the banned additive.

The company said that samples from the pack of pork slices in question will be sent to experts for analysis.

Following the discovery of cimbuterol in pork slices in retesting by the TFDA and the Taichung City government, the opposition Kuomintang legislative caucus demanded Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) give a food safety report before the new legislative session starts on Feb. 20.

Related News

Feb. 6. Health official criticizes Taichung's release of pork test results

Feb. 5: Conflicting pork additive results lead to request for further probe

Feb. 4: No cimbuterol found in samples from contaminated pork batch: MOA

Feb. 4: Cities and counties preemptively remove Taisugar pork

Feb. 3: Taisugar recalls all Boston butt pork products from store shelves

Feb. 2: Taisugar pork ordered off shelves after leanness-enhancing additive found