In early June, news came out that animal fat manufactured by a company in Belgium and later processed into animal feed was tainted with dioxin. About 1400 farms in Belgium were affected, and farms in neighboring countries may also have been hit. Many countries immediately halted the importation of European meat, and returned existing stocks. Taiwan also took emergency steps.

As if that were not enough, at the same time came word that hoof-and-mouth disease had struck cattle in Kinmen, once again putting Taiwan's disease prevention network to the test.

The German minister of health described the dioxin incident as a great scandal. Because the Belgian government was slow to announce the discovery, and could not say where the feed had gone, the European Community may take legal action against Belgium. Currently countries worldwide have restricted imports of European meat, but exports that have already been shipped now present a toxic headache to the importing countries.

Taiwan's main animal-based imports from Europe are processed foods using eggs and dairy products, not meat. Taiwan imported more than 700,000 kilos of egg- and dairy-based products from Belgium between January and April of this year. Dairy products have also been imported from France.

After hearing the news, Taiwan's Bureau of Commodity Inspection and Quarantine (BCIQ) immediately notified importers to hold on to their products, and to work with Chengkung University Medical School and Tsinghua University's Institute of Chemical Engineering-both of which can do dioxin tests-to test samples from all importers, supermarkets, and chain stores whose goods might have been tainted. Tests showed that some dairy products did indeed contain minute traces of dioxin. Taiwan lacks its own standards for dioxin risk, but based on EU standards, the BCIQ states that dioxin levels did not exceed their safety limit of 5 ppt.

Nevertheless, says Chen Shu-kong, director of the Bureau of Food Sanitation of the Department of Health, dioxin can accumulate in fat in the human body, so he suggests that, until the extent of the dioxin contamination has been confirmed, citizens refrain from eating animal products from the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. This goes especially for sausage, bacon, ham, and animal fats. As for dairy products, though there has been no ban on their sale in Europe, Chen suggests consumers try other countries' products for the time being.

The Board of Foreign Trade, acting under the authority of Section 2, Article 6 of the Trade Law, has announced a temporary halt in the importation of 118 egg, dairy, animal fat, feed, and poultry products from Belgium. It has also imposed controls on similar products from the Netherlands and France.

This recent scare highlights the types of disease prevention problems that may occur with agricultural imports after Taiwan joins the World Trade Organization. Seeing as in July Taiwan will begin allowing quotas of agricultural imports into Taiwan from all over the world, this problem must be addressed as soon as possible.

The Council of Agriculture (COA) established a new disease prevention and quarantine bureau last August 1. Its purpose is to prevent tainted animal or vegetable products from reaching the market, and to control the spread of major disease vectors within Taiwan. To strengthen inspections of imports, the BCIQ has recently implemented a "System for Inspection at the Point of Production." Goods will be inspected in their source country. At the same time, the government will tighten quarantine regulations and relevant laws such as the Veterinary Medicine Control Act.

A disease prevention network is being built layer by layer. Now, however, this "threat from without" has coincided with a "threat from within." Because of the spread of hoof-and-mouth disease in mainland China, the Agricultural Improvement Station in Kinmen decided to begin random testing of Kinmen cattle. It discovered that 164 cattle on four farms had been infected. Over 100 of these cattle were then destroyed. On June 14, the Kinmen County government announced a ban on meat imports and exports. However, cattle at three farms in the Shanhua area of Tainan which had already imported cattle from Kinmen were infected. A total of 315 cattle had to be destroyed, and Tainan meat markets were closed for a week.

The government is now investigating the origin of this outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease. But it is widely believed that it is connected to the illegal importation of livestock from mainland China. The COA has already announced that if smuggled mainland animals were indeed the source, not only would the affected farms not be compensated for the loss of their livestock, they would be liable for fines of NT$10-50,000 under regulations governing infectious diseases of animals.

With prompt action, it appears that hoof-and-mouth disease is under control. However, the Water Quality Protection Bureau of the Environmental Protection Administration warns that 24 wells were contaminated by the hasty burial of hogs which were slaughtered en masse to try to halt the spread of hoof-and-mouth disease among hogs two years ago. The EPA has warned the agencies in charge to be careful in disposing of the infected cattle which have been recently destroyed.

The arrival of tainted products from abroad is a warning that Taiwan's disease prevention net still has many holes. New Party legislator Hao Lung-pin says that a recent series of events including the dioxin scare suggest that the government is inadequately prepared to cope with threats to consumer safety, and that the non-governmental Consumers' Foundation should play a more active role in this area. As entry into the World Trade Organization approaches and interactions with mainland China increase, Taiwan's disease prevention net must be tightened to protect both consumers and livestock farmers.

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Kinmen County mobilized quickly to halt the spread of hoof-and-mouth disease by destroying infected cattle. (photo by Li Mu-lung)