Taiwan: Ractopamine detected in more Australian pork, but within legal limits

Traces of the controversial veterinary drug ractopamine have been detected in two batches of frozen pork knuckles imported from Australia, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) said Tuesday. The shipments, totaling 47.25 metric tons, were found to contain 0.002 parts per million (ppm) and 0.003 ppm of the substance respectively, below Taiwan’s maximum residue limits. The legal limits for ractopamine in pork are set at 0.01 ppm for pork meat, fat and other edible parts, and 0.04 ppm for organs like liver and kidneys. These findings come just days after a shipment of imported pork, also from Australia, tested positive for ractopamine at Taiwan’s border for the first time since restrictions on pork with ractopamine were lifted on Jan. 1, 2021. The latest two batches were produced by the same manufacturer as the previous batch, but were imported by a different trading company, said TFDA Director-General Chiang Chih-kang (姜至剛). The importer of the two pork shipments, ...