TAIPEI -- Consumers in Taiwan have offered their signatures to a petition against importing pork and beef containing ractopamine, with 196,830 signatures secured as of Tuesday, according to the Consumers' Foundation, Chinese Taipei.

The organization strongly opposes the island authority's adoption of this policy without proper scientific evaluation of the risks, and it urges the authority to suspend the policy, the organization said in a press release.

The Taiwan authority announced on Aug 28 that it would set standards for residues of the animal-feed additive ractopamine in imported pork to allow imports of such meat, while opening its market to US beef for cattle aged over 30 months from Jan 1 next year.

Taiwan consumers also demanded that the authority protect their rights to know and choose by properly labeling meat products containing ractopamine, the statement said.

The island's legislature planned to vote on the motion concerning the import of pork containing ractopamine on Thursday.