Taipei: The Consumers’ Foundation on Saturday urged disclosure of the cattle age of beef, if the government goes ahead with its plan to permit the importation of Japanese beef from cattle of any age.

According to Focus Taiwan, the call came in response to a draft revision regulating Japanese beef imports that seeks to lift the ban on beef from cattle over 30 months of age, as announced on Tuesday by the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The foundation voiced its concerns against the revision on Friday, stating that “the risk of mad cow disease in Japanese cattle still exists.”

Consumers’ Foundation Executive Director Wu Jung-ta expressed via a telephone interview that consumers have a right to know about the cattle’s age, insisting that information should be disclosed in full to allow consumers to make informed purchasing decisions. Chen Ya-ping, secretary-general of the foundation, also questioned the lack of transparency, urging the ministry to provide detailed reasoning and context for the revision.

Chen criticized the ministry for abruptly announcing the revision without releasing inspection results or any other relevant information. The foundation raised worries about the possible connection between the revisions and Taiwan’s ongoing negotiations for an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with Japan, suggesting that public health might be compromised for economic benefits.

In response to these concerns, the FDA assured that relevant risk assessments and safety reviews have been thorough, citing the World Organisation for Animal Health’s classification of Japan as a “negligible-risk” country. However, the foundation remains skeptical, highlighting that over 10 cases of mad cow disease have been reported in Japan since 2001. The disease, officially known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has a long incubation period and typically affects older cattle, which justified the former regulation limiting imports to cattle under 30 months.

The foundation warned that lifting the regulation could potentially expose consumers to infected meat, increasing the risk of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human variant of the disease. The proposed amendments are currently undergoing a 60-day review period, during which public opinions may be submitted.