Staff writer, with CNAMinister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) on Friday said the policy on beef imports from the US will remain in place, despite confirmation of a fifth case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, earlier this week. Opposition lawmakers have urged the government to ban US beef imports in the wake of the latest mad cow disease case. “The experts evaluated the facts and concluded that the case should have no impact on Taiwan,” he said. One of the infected cows was 11 years old, while US beef imports are limited to specified meat products from cattle under 30 months, he said. It was the fifth case of mad cow disease in the US this year, the department said, adding that the first case was typical BSE imported from Canada, while the others were atypical (H or L-type) BSE.

Source: Taipei Times July 22, 2017 16:02 UTC