Chicken from US qualified to enter Vietnamese market

All frozen chicken meat from the US has been certified as meeting food safety standards of the US Department of Agriculture before they are imported to Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In a written statement sent to the press, the ministry’s Department of Animal Health said in the first seven months of this year, over 45,600 tonnes of frozen chicken meat, 97 percent of which were chicken thighs, entered Vietnam through Ho Chi Minh City border gate and Hai Phong port.

Samples have been taken from all batches of imported chicken products for testing, with only one batch of 749kg of breaded chicken found to have been contaminated with Salmonella bacterium, which was then destroyed.

In July, 35 samples of imported US chicken products were tested, with 17 samples found to contain some antibiotics but well within the permissible levels.

Regarding the temporary import and re-export of meat, the Department said all activities in this field are conducted in northern provinces via Hai Phong and Cai Lan ports. The department said that goods must be sealed off in refrigerated containers, put under strict supervision of the relevant authorities and then re-exported through border gates in the northern borderline.

The Department affirms it will continue to keep close control of meat import.

On May 1 this year, Vietnam temporarily halted import of live poultry and unprocessed poultry products from 13 US states where bird flu outbreaks have been reported. The US Department of Agriculture also announced it will not issue quarantine certificates for poultry from the bird flu-affected states.-VNA