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WASHINGTON: The United States has welcomed Taiwan's decision to give greater access to US beef imports after they were banned in 2003 due to concerns over mad cow disease.
"The United States has been looking forward to an announcement from Taiwan authorities that Taiwan would fully open its market to American beef and beef products on the basis of the bilateral protocol we have negotiated," the Department of Agriculture and the US Trade Representative's office said in a joint statement.
The protocol that went into effect Monday in Taiwan allows imports of US beef on the bone and other beef products including bone-in beef and intestines. The beef products must come from cows aged 30 months or younger.
Taiwan's Department of Health first announced its protocol decision on October 23, drawing fire from some consumer rights advocates and lawmakers for allegedly ignoring mad cow disease concerns and giving in to pressure from Washington.
The US statement said the protocol "is science-based and follows the guidelines of World Organization of Animal Health (OIE), as well as the findings of Taiwan's own risk assessment on the safety of US beef."
Taiwan banned all US beef imports in December 2003 after reports of mad cow disease on the island but it opened up to boneless beef imports in 2006 while keeping other offal restrictions in place.
While Monday's decision by Taiwan's Department of Health expanded market access to US beef, it still included "other additional domestic measures regarding beef and beef products," the joint statement said without giving details.
"We are currently reviewing these measures to ensure they allow Taiwan consumers the opportunity to enjoy the same safe American beef and beef products that American families eat," the statement added.
"We look forward to working with our partners in Taiwan to ensure that Taiwan's domestic requirements are consistent with the Protocol, the science, the OIE guidelines, and Taiwan's international obligations," the US government said.
Scientists believe mad cow disease was caused by using infected parts of cattle to make feed for other cattle, and that eating meat from infected animals can trigger Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human variant of the fatal brain-wasting disease.
More than 200 people around the world are suspected to have died, most of them in Britain, from the human variant of the disease, which was first described in 1996.
- AFP/yb
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