Taipei, June 4 (CNA) Two major food service companies in Taiwan on Friday rejected accusations detailed in a Hong Kong newspaper expose that their pork products contain excessive levels of ractopamine.
Hsin Tung Yang Co. and Black Bridge Foods Co. said the pork they use is ractopamine-free domestic pork, has passed the Certified Agricultural Standards (CAS) of Taiwan's Council of Agriculture and is free from safety concerns, following a Hong Kong based-Wenweipo story the previous day.
The companies said they are considering taking legal action against the newspaper for damaging their good name.
Wenweipo reported that according to tests it commissioned by a third-party institute, seven out of eight pork products from the U.S. and Taiwan contained excessive levels of the leanness enhancing drug.
Among them were five products from Hsin Tung Yang, Black Bridge and two other Taiwanese companies, which were found to contain 0.054-0.121 parts per million (ppm) of ractopamine, compared with Hong Kong's standard of 0.01 ppm, the newspaper said.
Three products from Taiwan and one from the U.S. even tested positive for traces of clenbuterol, an early-generation leanness enhancing drug that is banned in the U.S., Taiwan and Hong Kong, according to the newspaper.
The newspaper therefore asked whether some Taiwanese companies are exporting to Hong Kong processed foods with pork they imported from the U.S.
However, the newspaper also said that according to a reply from Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Taiwanese pork products had passed both ractopamine and clenbuterol tests conducted from January to May.
Responding to the report, COA deputy head Huang Chin-cheng said he found the test results unlikely, because tests as far back as 2018 showed no use of ractopamine or clenbuterol on pigs domestically raised in Taiwan.
While it is possible companies could use imported pork in processed foods that they later export to other countries, any pork containing excessive levels of the drugs should have been flagged when imported into Taiwan, he said.
Huang said the COA is working with the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration to check the origin of the pork products identified in the report and review their earlier test results.
