All substandard private slaughterhouses will be closed across Ho Chi Minh City by the end of next year (Photo:VNA) HCM City (VNA) - All substandard private slaughterhouses will be closed across Ho Chi Minh City by the end of next year as part of local planning for 2016-2020 that was recently approved by the municipal People’s Committee.
These outdated facilities, where the slaughter is often conducted on dirty floors and waste water is discharged directly into rivers, causing pollution to the environment, will be replaced with industrial ones to ensure food hygiene standards.
The two largest private slaughterhouses – Nam Phong in Binh Thanh district and Hiep Binh Chanh in Thu Duc district, which supply thousands of pigs to the local market everyday, are scheduled to be closed down on June 30.
Cattle and poultry from Nam Phong and Hiep Binh Chanh will be moved to the Binh Tan industrial abattoir in Binh Tan district and a plant belonging to Vissan Co. Ltd, for slaughter.
By the end of 2017, all pigs will be slaughtered at six industrial slaughterhouses in Hoc Mon and Cu Chi districts with a capacity of between 10,000 and 15,000 head per day. Two poultry slaughterhouses capable of handling between 250,000 and 300,000 head per day will also be put into operation next year.
The southern hub has a population of more than ten million and a large number of visitors, who consume approximately 615,000 tonnes of meat per year.
By the end of 2015, the city had 21 substandard private slaughterhouses, processing about 7,555 pigs, 82,000 chickens and 25 cows and buffalo per night.
Between 2011 and 2015, the provincial Department of Animal Health recorded 186 cases of illegally slaughtering of poultry and cattle.-VNA
