Only one third of slaughterhouses under control

Only one-third of the 35,000 small slaughterhouses in the country are under local authorities' control, it was reported at a recent seminar.
Only one-third of the 35,000 small slaughterhouses in the country areunder local authorities' control, it was reported at a recent seminar.

The chaotic situation has caused serious problems related to foodhygiene and safety, speakers said at the two-day event in HCM City inmid-May on livestock and poultry transport and slaughter.

"State management of livestock and poultry transport andslaughterhouses cannot meet demand," Pham Van Dong, head of the Ministryof Agriculture and Rural Development's Veterinary Department, said inthe opening speech of the seminar.

All 63 provinceshave set up industrial slaughterhouses and 53 of a total of 63 provinceshave received approval for their master plan for industrialslaughterhouses.

But small non-mechanised slaughterhouses continue to be set up because of the demands of the market.

"Slaughterhouse owners do not have the correct awareness aboutveterinary hygiene and food safety as well as social responsibility.They only work for profit and refuse to bring livestock and poultry intoindustrial slaughterhouses," Huynh Thi Thanh Binh, deputy head of thedepartment's Community Veterinary Division, said.

She said that only 29,000 veterinary staff are employed in the country.

"There is not enough staff to manage small non-mechanisedslaughterhouses. In addition, fees for slaughterhouse inspections aretoo low, and as a result, are not enough to pay salary for staff," sheadded.

Binh suggested that a temporary regulation on managing veterinary hygiene for small slaughterhouses should be created.

In 2014, six provincial veterinary sub-departments handed out fines toviolators involved in 31 cases that had injected water into livestock.Fines totalled 255 million VND (12,000 USD).

Toimprove the situation, the six-year Livestock Competitiveness and FoodSafety Project (Lifsap) was launched in 2010 co-funded by World Bank andthe Vietnamese Government.

Its aim is to increasecompetitiveness of household-based livestock producers, to reduce theenvironmental impact of livestock production, processing and marketing,and to improve food safety in livestock product supply chains (mainlymeat) in selected provinces.

The project willcontribute to achieving the higher-level objective of improving theover-all competitiveness of domestic livestock production.

It also aims to increase production efficiency through the adoption ofGood Animal Husbandry Practices (GAHP) and reduction of negativeenvironmental impact. By having participating livestock producers,markets and slaughterhouses meet established environmental standards.-VNA

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