Step up regulation of pork products: FTU

The Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) on Saturday expressed concern about pork from Taiwan which may contain chemicals that are banned on the mainland, the European Union and Russia.

Since the beginning of the year, Taiwan has been importing American pork which contains additives that are used to increase muscle leanness, but may aggravate cancers and chronic diseases.

The group said many pre-packaged foods sold in Hong Kong do not clearly state the origin of their meat, adding that it is important for the government to enact laws to make it mandatory for the relevant information to be displayed on all processed meat products.

FTU lawmaker Luk Chung-hung also called on officials to step up inspections on meat products from Taiwan to better safeguard food safety in the territory.

In the longer run, he said the government should ban or at least further tighten restrictions on the use of leanness-enhancing feed additive.