The government has confidence in its ability to protect the people's health and safety and will impose strict standards to prevent questionable U.S. beef products from entering the country, he said.

Taiwan's Cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) on Monday formally posted a notice of its amended regulations on U.S. beef imports, officially lifting a ban on U.S. bone-in beef, ground beef and beef offal from cattle younger than 30 months.

Since the government announced on Oct. 23 its decision to expand imports of U.S. beef, several civic groups have been pushing for renegotiation of the protocol with the U.S. and have launched a drive to collect 90,000 signatures in 14 days in the first step to petitioning for a referendum to be held on the issue.

However, Premier Wu said Tuesday that leaving the matter up to the country's "good-hearted citizens," instead of trusting the judgment of the DOH, Legislative Yuan, and World Organization for Animal Health(OIE), would reflect populism instead of reliance on calm and rational analysis.

He said it is impossible to renegotiate the issue with the U.S.

at this stage and gave the assurance that new measures introduced by the DOH will prevent the entry of any dubious beef products.

He noted that compared to some European countries and South Korea, Taiwan's regulations on U.S. beef imports are more stringent.

As long there are controls at the source and there are measures to prevent questionable U.S. beef products from entering Taiwan markets, there is no need to worry, he said.

One of the DOH's new regulations states that frozen ground beef and offal imported from the U.S. would have to be defrosted upon arrival in the country, a reqirement that would effectively block the controversial meat products without violating the protocol.

In addition, because the U.S. Department of Agriculture does not issue quality system assessment (QSA) certificates for ground beef, Taiwan's trade authorities will not issue import permits for the product.

"The chances of U.S. ground beef and offal entering Taiwan markets are almost zero," Wu said, drawing on an earlier statement by Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang.

Yaung said Monday that checks on U.S. beef will be carried out at the source, at the border and in markets. They will include five different requirements, one of which will be the attachment of U.S.

quality system assessment (QSA) certificates, he said.

Detailed data on U.S. beef imports will also be required, containers will be opened for spot checks, safety tests will be carried out, and links will be established between animal quarantine and standard food checks, the health minister said.

Meanwhile, the Unites States Trade Representative and the U.S.

Department of Agriculture in joint statement Monday said they look forward to working with Taiwan to ensure that the domestic regulations "are consistent with the protocol, the science, the OIE guidelines and Taiwan's international obligations." In Taiwan, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its ally the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) have been pushing for a referendum on U.S. beef imports, and several DPP candidates for the year-end city and county chief elections have voiced support for the idea.

According to a survey conducted by the TSU, 71.23 percent of respondents think the government should renegotiate with the United States on the issue.

Under the Referendum Law, 0.5 percent of eligible voters in the last presidential election -- approximately 86,000 -- must in the first stage endorse the application for a referendum. In the second stage, 5 percent of eligible voters -- approximately 860,000 -- must sign the petition before it can be screened by the Referendum Review Committee.

(By Chiachen Hsieh and Fanny Liu)