Conspiracy theory of surrounding pigs to save American cows? Chen Baoji: Impossible

Just as Taiwan was in the midst of an uproar over whether to allow imports of American beef containing the lean meat stimulant Ractobamate, news broke recently that domestic pigs were found to contain the more toxic salbutamol, and that subsidies for foot-and-mouth disease vaccines would be stopped, causing pig farmers to question whether there was a conspiracy to "encircle pigs to save American beef." In response to this, Council of Agriculture Chairman Chen Baoji shouted today, the 15th, that there can be no conspiracy theory, and that he wanted to declare that domestic meat products are safe.

Today, the Legislative Yuan's Economic Committee held a meeting to review the budget report of the 2012 subsidiary units under the jurisdiction of the Council of Agriculture. Chen Baoji went to the Economic Committee to report and answer questions. He said that as the public is currently concerned about all food safety, the Council of Agriculture will also conduct a detailed inspection of domestic pork. The purpose is not to say that there are problems with domestic chickens and pigs, but to tell the public that most pigs and chickens are safe.

In response to the rumor that subsidies for foot-and-mouth disease vaccines will be stopped, Chen Baoji further stated that subsidies are not the only way to eliminate foot-and-mouth disease. If subsidies fail to achieve the desired effect, the entire system needs to be reviewed. The current review is taking all even-toed ungulate epidemics into consideration. Stopping subsidies is only one of the possible outcomes and it is not certain.