July 25, 2024

Vietnam's agriculture ministry highlights slaughter control, veterinary inspection regulations at conference

Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development late last month organised the Conference on Animal Slaughter Control, where it commented on regulations regarding slaughter control and veterinary hygiene inspection as well as highlighted the national monitoring programme on food safety for foods of animal origin.

According to statistics from the ministry, Vietnam has 14 provinces that do not organise slaughter control at small establishments. Currently, there are about 24,858 small slaughterhouses nationwide. Of these, 6,756 establishments (27%) have business registration certificates, but only 4,328 establishments (64.1%) have veterinary staff performing slaughter control.

The veterinary industry currently only controls 17% of the total number of small slaughterhouses. The number of small slaughterhouses that do not have a business license and are not allowed to operate by the government is 18,102 (73%).

In 2023, the Department of Animal Health said it took 60 samples of pork carcasses to check for Salmonella and Enterobacteriaceae infections. The results showed that 12 samples were infected with Salmonella (20%) and 13 samples were infected with Enterobacteriaceae (21.67%).

At the conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien called on representatives of provinces and the Sub-Departments of Animal Health and Livestock to report on the current situation of animal slaughter management in their localities so that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development can fully evaluate and advise on how to handle the situation with Vietnam's prime minister.

- Government Newspaper (Vietnam)