[quote]After rejecting two shipments of pork from the US less than two weeks ago for containing a banned feed additive, a sample of domestic pork was found to be tainted with the same substance – ractopamine – a health official said yesterday.
…
Ractopamine, also known by its trade name Paylean, is among a family of compounds known as beta-agonists.
The Council of Agriculture has banned the use of a number of beta-agonists as veterinary drugs, including salbutamol, terbutaline and clenbuterol.
Some including the US, allow the use of ractopamine to help hogs put on lean weight quickly, hence its nickname “lean meat essence” (瘦肉精) in Taiwan.
[/quote]
Interesting… but why does it also include my Canadian, maple-flavored, smoked ham?
EDIT:
And by the way, if local pork has teh same problem, why are they dumping the imported stuff and changing it for the locally-made ham and sausages, where it is harder to test/tell where it comes from/complain? Logic, smlogic…
Ehem, answering my own question and raising further inquiries:
[quote]Taiwan: ractopamine in pork from Canada// 01 Oct 2007
A Taiwanese Department of Health (DOH) official stated recently that traces of ractopamine have been found recently in some imported frozen pig kidneys from Canada.
It’s easy to get to the Xizhi on public transport and the bus stops just in front of Costco.
You take the MRT to the end of the blue line (Kunyang) and from there you jump on either the 15, 22 or 23 I think, I know the 15 goes there for sure and it takes the shortest route there. The bus goes over the river of sorts, or at least along side it and then past some construction company or something on the left hand side with a big yellow bug wearing a helmet on the roof. The stop is right next to a formosa gas/petrol station and a car sales place. It’s about a 2 min walk from there to get to store.
From what I’ve seen they always have more stock than the Neihu store and a better selection in general and as a bonus, it doesn’t seem to be as crowded either.
Getting back is done by crossing the road. there’s a crosswalk and then go left until you hit the bus stop which is pretty much oposite to where you got off.
I had a rather disappointing trip to the Nei-Hu Cost Co this morning. I finally saw what was discussed earlier in this thread about sausage replacement to the Fu-Tong local brand. The last time I went to both the Nei-Hu and Xi-Zhr outlets, they had not switched over yet. The one manager I talked to this morning agreed embarrassingly when I said I’d heard they don’t taste as good as the imports did. He maintained they were going to tinker with the ingredients.
Besides finally seeing that change for my own eyes, the shelves of other dry goods were sadly lacking as well. It looked a bit like a ‘going out of business’ sale. I really liked those six-pack of Italian pasta noodles. They only had the penne (not much left either), not the mix packs anymore.
Thank god the cheese selection was still solid. My interest in going to Cost Co will be considerably less though, if things keep up like they were this morning.
The baked goods like bagels, danish, should be good. They buy from the same vendor as Safeway (or Vons or Dominick’s Finer Foods), if that tells you anything. Unless they bake it wrong, it should taste the same as what you’d find there.
On the topic of the replacement sausages at Cost Co, I want to report that the local brand replacement attempt of the previous Greek Pork Sausage With Crumbled Feta Cheese is a bit disappointment. Big chunks of fat in them, the mix isn’t right, no Feta cheese content. Big old miss on that one.
I figure I won’t bother trying the other replacement attempts. Still bitter about this. That was part of the joy for me in going to Cost Co, buying quality import goods.
If I’m not mistaken, the so-called “double-smoked” ones are supposed to be the replacement for the Double Smoked Farmer’s Sausage (you being from Winkler, I know you know about those) they used to have, from Yorkton, Saskachewan. I haven’t tried the local version yet. Do they rate anywhere close to what the real Farmer’s Sausage were like? I bought about 8 or 10 packs of the old ones from the Xi-Zhr outlet before they were all gone. I’ve only got a pack and a half left.
I may be the only one in Taiwan to be excited about egg nog, but tonight I just bought a half-gallon (1.89 liters) at the Costco in Neihu. It was about NT$225.
I have never heard of the brand, Darigold, but it sure is tasty!
[quote=“david_in_taipei”]I may be the only one in Taiwan to be excited about egg nog, but tonight I just bought a half-gallon (1.89 liters) at the Costco in Neihu. It was about NT$225.
I have never heard of the brand, Darigold, but it sure is tasty![/quote]
you are not the only one! they had it last year too, was happy to see they got it back again.
After hearing everyone rave about how incredible this BBC series was, I bought the whole series at Amazon.com for US$55 (marked down from $80) for my wife, daughter and myself for Christmas.
Then I noticed in Costco the other day they’ve got the same thing. I forget the price – it’s still expensive – but i think it’s cheaper than amazon.com (it definitely is when you consider shipping).
They also have the sister series about the oceans:
If you haven’t heard about these nature series, they’re supposedly incredible – the mother of all nature series. The Daily Mirror says, “every few years we are treated to a series so compelling that it puts all other shows in the shade… Every single second of these epic new films is a joy to behold… mindblowing…” See the above link to amazon.com if you want to learn more about them.
[quote=“david_in_taipei”]I may be the only one in Taiwan to be excited about egg nog, but tonight I just bought a half-gallon (1.89 liters) at the Costco in Neihu. It was about NT$225.
I have never heard of the brand, Darigold, but it sure is tasty![/quote]
My wife was ecstatic and bought 2 big jugs. I saw a large bottle of rum as well so it might be an interesting couple of nights.
I had a hard time paying that much for egg nog, so I stuck to one carton… but for something that just isn’t available anywhere else in the country I suppose $225 isn’t that bad - far cheaper than the accompanying bottle of rum. I’ll have to get back there soon.
Has anyone tried Costco’s fruitcake? I believe it’s suspiciously cheaper than the egg nog.
[quote=“kelake”][quote=“david_in_taipei”]I may be the only one in Taiwan to be excited about egg nog, but tonight I just bought a half-gallon (1.89 liters) at the Costco in Neihu. It was about NT$225.
I have never heard of the brand, Darigold, but it sure is tasty![/quote]
My wife was ecstatic and bought 2 big jugs. I saw a large bottle of rum as well so it might be an interesting couple of nights.[/quote]
WARNING TO OTHERS: I went to the Neihu Costco last night, looking for eggnog and they didn’t have any. I looked in all the dairy cases and asked several employees for help. Apparently it’s all sold out. I’ll have to drink the rum some other way.
i’ve been wanting to but that planet earth, except you can get it in hd, and they don’t seem to have the format war sorted out enough to buy a player yet. still holding out.
