Blue-ear disease strikes 13 provinces in Vietnam

The Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) or blue-ear disease has spread to 13 provinces in Vietnam with the northern province of Bac Giang being the newly-struck, the Department of Veterinary said.

 

The disease broke out in 124 households in nine communes of Yen Dung district, affecting 989 pigs and forcing 115 to be destroyed, according to the department.

 

In the central province of Nghe An, the disease attacked Hoa Thanh commune of Yen Thanh district and Minh Son commune of Do Luong district during May 3-7. So far this year, the disease attacked seven communes of four districts of Nam Dan, Yen Thanh, Do Luong and Vinh city, and affected 509 pigs.

 

The disease is remaining in the northern provinces of Hai Duong, Thai Binh, Thai Nguyen, Hung Yen, Bac Ninh, Hai Phong, Ha Noi, Nam Dinh, Ha Nam, Lang Son, and Quang Ninh.

 

Meanwhile, bird flu is remaining in central provinces of Quang Ngai and Quang Tri, and foot-and-mouth disease is remaining in Quang Ngai province.

 

The state-run Vietnam News agency said the blue-ear disease is causing a disorder to the food market as more customers halt buying pork after hearing that several people fell ill from consuming pork infected with the disease.

 

In Bac Ninh and Hanoi, many butchers in big markets are going out of business.

 

However, there have not been any reports of uncertified pork being sold in the market, according to Nguyen Hong Bao, deputy director of Hanoi's market watch department.

 

In fact, both customers and market watchdogs are finding it difficult to uncover violations because vets certify good pork by stamping the pig's rump. Once the animal has been slaughtered and chopped up, this makes it difficult to examine the meat and identify its origin.

 

Moreover, the fines for violations are very small. Uncertified meat worth less than VND500,000 (US$26.3) only incurs a fine of between VND50,000 (US$2.6) and VND100,000 (US$5.2) according to Article 16, Decree 40 dated April 2009.

 

Realising that customers are changing their eating habits, butchers selling other kinds of meat have been quick to take advantage.

 

Butchers in infected provinces have increased the price of beef, chicken, seafood and tofu by at least VND10,000 (US$0.5) per kilogramme.

 

Since the end of April, the price of beef, chicken and seafood in Hanoi has also increased vigorously. Leading the race are prawns that have gone from VND170,000 (US$8.9) per kilogramme to VND220,000 (US$11.5), followed by cuttlefish that have increased by VND20,000 (US$1) per kilogramme.

 

"The price of pork has been reduced to as low as VND8,000-VND10,000 (US$0.4-$0.5) per kilogramme of fat and VND40,000-VND45,000 (US$2.1-$2.3) per kilogramme of lean meat but there are still only a few customers," said Nguyen Phuong Lien, a butcher in Hanoi.