Taiwan opens market to all Japanese beef products

Taipei, May 23 (CNA) Taiwan has officially opened its market to imports of all Japanese beef products, regardless of the age of the cattle, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) announced on Thursday.

Previously, Taiwan only permitted imports of Japanese beef from cattle under 30 months old. The policy change followed a 60-day public comment period launched on March 4, after the TFDA proposed revising the longstanding restrictions.

The original regulations were enacted in 2003 during the global outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease.

Since 2017, Taiwan has gradually relaxed its beef import rules for the United States, Canada and Japan. It eventually allowed beef from cattle of all ages from the U.S. in 2021 and from Canada in 2023.

According to TFDA Director-General Chiang Chih-kang (姜至剛), Japan has not reported a case of mad cow disease in over 15 years, and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) classifies its beef as equally safe as that of the U.S. and Canada.

More than 30 countries -- including the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and members of the European Union -- already allow imports of Japanese beef from cattle of all ages, Chiang said, adding that Taiwan's move aligns with international standards.

The most conservative estimates suggest that consuming higher-risk boned beef products puts only one in 150 million consumers at risk of exposure to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), which is linked to mad cow disease, Chiang said.

TFDA data shows that in 2023, Taiwan's top three sources of imported beef were the U.S. (38%), Paraguay (26.6%) and Australia (18.6%), with Japan ranking sixth.