Fu Bo Slaughterhouse Water-Injected Cattle, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Fines 300,000

New Taipei City Taishan District's Fu Bo Slaughterhouse was exposed yesterday by Apple Daily for inserting water pipes into cattle after slaughtering and skinning to inject water and increase weight. The Council of Agriculture summoned the operator at 11:30 a.m. today. Although the operator argued it was "washing the stomach," Lin Jinzhong, head of the Meat Inspection Team of the Council of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, said that cleaning carcasses only requires rinsing with a water pipe, and it is impossible to insert a water pipe into the meat. After reviewing four videos from Apple Daily, it was determined that at least 2 cattle at Fu Bo Slaughterhouse had been injected with water. A total fine of 300,000 was imposed, and the parts involving improper benefit and fraud were referred to judicial authorities for investigation.

Fu Bo Slaughterhouse was already exposed by animal protection groups in June 2012 for injecting water into live animals and was fined 75,000 yuan. In September of the same year, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine again caught Fu Bo failing to apply for slaughter hygiene inspection and attempting to slaughter secretly while the veterinarian was absent, and fined it 100,000. However, the current Animal Industry Act stipulates that as long as operators make improvements within the deadline, they can continue operating. Therefore, although Fu Bo had a long record of violations, the Council of Agriculture still could not revoke its license. Lin Jinzhong promised that future amendments to regulations would be studied to increase penalties for operators.