Lean Meat Powder Testing Made Easy in One Try: US Beef at the Gate, Nationwide Rapid Screening to Hold the Line
On September 6 this year, the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health announced the "Regulations Governing the Labeling of the Place of Origin of Foods in Containers or Packaging," the "Regulations Governing the Labeling of Bulk Foods," and the "Regulations Governing the Labeling of the Place of Origin of Foods Containing Beef and Edible Beef Parts Supplied in Establishments That Directly Provide Food and Drink," requiring that starting September 12 this year, mass merchandisers, hypermarkets, supermarkets, traditional markets, and restaurants, fast-food businesses, night markets and other establishments that directly serve beef-containing meals must all label the place of origin of beef ingredients in accordance with the regulations; starting September 20, manufacturers of packaged food products containing beef, such as beef jerky and beef instant noodles, must also follow suit and label them.
The purpose of labeling the place of origin of beef was originally to distinguish American beef that uses leanness-enhancing drugs from beef from other countries that does not use them, thereby providing consumers with sufficient information for judgment. But can this measure put an end to "selling dog meat under a sheep's head" and prevent unscrupulous operators or merchants from passing off cheap American beef as beef from other countries? How can consumers protect themselves?
Rapid screening lets consumers protect themselves and also keep watch over the country
The "leanness-enhancing drug rapid test strips," commonly known as leanness-enhancing drug rapid screening strips, are currently one of the testing methods that the Consumers' Foundation encourages the public to use for self-protection, because leanness-enhancing drug rapid screening strips are the easiest to obtain and have the lowest cost of use. Hsu Wen-liu, producer and executive vice president of Taiwan Advanced Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Co., said that the rapid screening reagent looks similar to a pregnancy test, is simple to operate, takes only about 5 to 15 minutes to test, has an accuracy rate between 90% and 95%, and costs only NT$100 per strip, making it very suitable for preliminary screening before meat is sent to a laboratory for testing.
In Taiwan, testing whether meat contains leanness-enhancing drugs is mainly done by sending it to a laboratory for testing with "liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS)." Although its accuracy reaches 100% and it can test for more types of leanness-enhancing drugs, the cost is about NT$4,000 to NT$5,000 per sample, and it takes about 5 to 7 days, which is a relatively heavy burden for ordinary households and too slow to meet urgent needs. The use of rapid screening strips helps ordinary households or food service operators conduct simple self-management of meat safety.
However, Hsu Wen-liu also emphasized that leanness-enhancing drug rapid screening strips cannot replace liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry testing; their function is mainly preliminary screening.
At present, each leanness-enhancing drug rapid screening strip can detect only one leanness-enhancing drug, and the types that can be detected are temporarily limited to the common ractopamine, salbutamol, and clenbuterol hydrochloride. Hsu Wen-liu suggested that, based on past results of leanness-enhancing drug sampling by health authorities, imported beef is more likely to test positive for ractopamine, while domestic meat products such as pork, duck, and goose have previously tested positive for residues of salbutamol and clenbuterol hydrochloride. The public can choose suitable rapid screening strips for self-testing according to the source and type of the meat they purchase.
However, the use of rapid screening strips also has limitations. The test items are limited to fresh meat; if the meat has been cooked or processed, it cannot be tested. In addition, if the sampled meat juice contains too much fat, it will also interfere with testing accuracy. Generally speaking, the fresher the meat and the less fat in the meat juice, the higher the testing accuracy.
Support the Consumers' Foundation in upgrading its equipment to serve everyone
At present, the public can purchase leanness-enhancing drug rapid screening strips either directly from Taiwan Advanced Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Co. or by applying to the Consumers' Foundation. The Consumers' Foundation said that, in order to encourage consumers to guard their own food safety, consumers may use NT$100 per strip as a unit, mail the amount needed to purchase the desired quantity, plus a NT$10 self-addressed envelope, fill in the recipient, address, contact phone number, and the type and quantity of rapid screening strips needed, and affix NT$10 in small parcel postage before mailing it to the Consumers' Foundation.
However, in order to truly help consumers safeguard meat safety, the Consumers' Foundation has also launched an "instrument donation drive," calling on the public to donate funds to support the Consumers' Foundation in purchasing precision testing instruments such as "liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry." The Consumers' Foundation said that at present its meat sampling is all sent to the Council of Agriculture's Central Animal Husbandry Association or private laboratories for testing. Sometimes, when faced with storms such as those over plasticizers or leanness-enhancing drugs, private laboratories' testing capacity cannot quickly digest the volume, which indirectly affects the timetable for the Consumers' Foundation to safeguard the public.
The Consumers' Foundation pointed out that if it could have its own "liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry," it would greatly increase testing capacity and could effectively safeguard public food safety. However, the funds required for related instruments and consumables amount to more than NT$13 million. Based on the cumulative amount currently raised by the Consumers' Foundation, there is still a very large gap to the goal. The Consumers' Foundation encourages consumers to donate and support the effort, jointly contributing to safeguarding food safety.
The following is a simple explanation of how to use the rapid screening strips:
Reference materials:
Taiwan Advanced Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Co. beta-agonist (leanness-enhancing drug) rapid test strip information - ractopamine, salbutamol, clenbuterol hydrochloride
NewsMarket series feature - leanness-enhancing drugs and the American beef case file