President and ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou pledged Saturday that the government will apply the strictest standards to checks of U.S. beef products in an effort to allay public concerns ahead of an imminent opening of the Taiwan market to several types of U.S. bone-in beef products. 'Although the safety of U.S. beef products is recognized by the World Organization for Animal Health, the government will vigorously examine the quality of U.S. beef before its entry into the domestic market to ensure that it is from cattle younger than 30 months, ' Ma said during a meeting with the business community, which was sponsored by the KMT's National Development Institute. Following Taiwan's opening of its market to boneless U.S. beef three years ago, the government will allow imports of U.S. bone-in beef, ground beef and offal, from next Tuesday, but with the highest levels of inspection, he said. 'However, the chance of people getting new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD) from eating U.S. T-bone steaks is only 2.7 in 100 billion,' the president stated. 'A rate lower than 1 in a million is considered risk free.' He stressed that even for offal and ground beef the risk is extremely low at 1.5 in 10 billion and 5.7 in 10 billion, respectively. 'U.S. beef is basically safe, but the relevant government agencies are prepared to carry out the most stringent inspections both in the United States and Taiwan to allay local consumers' fears,' he said. 'We can also send veterinarians to make on-the-spot checks at U.S. plants where Taiwan-bound beef is processed,' he added. The president attributed the public worry to 'lack of proper explanations on the part of the government.' Betel nuts and cigarettes are much more dangerous to the public's health than U.S. beef, because betel nut chewers have a 7 in 10,000 chance of developing oral cancer, while smokers have a 1 in 10,000 chance of getting lung cancer, he said. The Cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) announced on Oct. 23 that Taiwan would expand imports of U.S. beef, based on a protocol that officials of the two countries agreed to the previous day in Washington, D.C. Under the protocol, Taiwan will allow the importation of U.S. bone-in beef, ground beef, intestines, spinal cords and processed beef from cattle younger than 30 months that have not been contaminated with 'specific risk materials' (SRMs), with effect from Nov. 10. SRMs are defined in the protocol as brains, skulls, eyes, trigeminal ganglia, spinal cords, vertebral columns and dorsal root ganglia from cattle 30 months and older, or tonsils and the distal ileum of the small intestine from cattle of all ages. At present, Taiwan only allows imports of U.S. boneless beef from cattle younger than 30 months, and which contain no SRMs. 