Vietnam to destroy expired pork products

Vietnamese authorities will destroy eight tonnes of imported pork that have passed their expiry dates, and have quarantined all further frozen products from Vinafoods. 

The pork was confiscated from the company's refrigerated warehouse on Friday (Jul 31).

On July 21-22, inspectors discovered the original documents of the eight tonnes of pig heads, showing that they were produced in December 2007 and the expiry dates were illegible.

Vinafood had substituted new production and expiry dates on top of the original dates, said Ta Trong Khang, deputy head of the animal health division.

Vietnamese law requires that frozen meat must be used within 18 months from its production date. Inspectors are also looking at Vinafood's original documents on all of its meat imports, including pork, chicken and other items, to determine the production date.

Documents for more than 350 tonnes of frozen imported meat would be inspected in Vinafood's refrigerated warehouse, said Huynh Huu Loi, head of HCM City's Animal Health Division.