The esophageal law passed the preliminary review and "no detection of clenbuterol"

The amendment to the Food Sanitation Management Act, which is related to whether American beef containing ractopamine can be imported, passed the initial review of the Legislative Yuan's Health and Environment Committee today. The Democratic Progressive Party caucus' version of "no detection of ractopamine" won the vote, causing the Executive Yuan's conditional opening policy to encounter a setback.

The amendment to the Food Sanitation Management Law, which is related to whether American beef containing clenbuterol can be imported, has been approved in its initial version, which states that no clenbuterol may be detected in meat. (Photography by Zhang Yawen)

Tsai Chin-lung, the KMT convener of the Health and Environment Committee, has clashed with the DPP several times over the review of the Esophageal Act in the past two months. The first time, he unilaterally announced that there was no consensus on the entire case and sent it to the government and opposition parties for consultation. He was surrounded by DPP legislators, leading to physical conflicts such as pushing and shoving. The second time was when he thought the DPP was interfering with the meeting during the vote and left without announcing the adjournment. The DPP also held up a sign saying "Search for Tsai Chin-lung" to mock him.

Today, the Health and Environmental Protection Committee reviewed the Esophageal Act. In order to ensure smooth proceedings, Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng has negotiated and confirmed that today's agenda will vote on Article 11 and Article 17-1 of the Esophageal Act one by one, allowing the bill to be sent out of the committee to the ruling and opposition parties for consultation and then to the House for processing. Therefore, there is no tension at all. Regarding whether clenbuterol can be detected in meat, there are three versions for voting: "zero detection" from the Democratic Progressive Party caucus, "in line with international standards" from the People First Party caucus, and "safety allowed" from the Executive Yuan version.

Today, both parties issued a Class A mobilization, requiring party members to attend the committee. However, KMT legislator Zheng Rufen, who proposed that meat products must not contain clenbuterol, was absent, resulting in the KMT's vote to the opposition party being 6 to 7. In the end, the DPP caucus version won the majority and sent the "Esophagus Law" to the Health and Environment Committee. After the DPP legislature, the DPP shouted the slogan: "Everyone wins! Insist on zero detection!"

Although the initial review result is that no clenbuterol should be detected in meat, the relevant provisions will be sent to the House of Representatives for processing based on negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties. If the Kuomintang takes "completing the third reading in this session" as the highest guiding principle, it will still have a chance to succeed in the House of Representatives vote with its advantage in seats. Therefore, how to regulate clenbuterol in the end may depend on the final result of the House of Representatives vote.