August 3, 2009

Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) may propose to the Hanoi Peoples Committee that it encourages poultry, beef and pork traders to transport meat more hygienically by supplying them with vans, reports state.

 

MARD deputy director Nguyen Huy Dang said numerous firms were failing to obey regulations regarding the hygienic transport of poultry and meat simply because they lacked the funds to buy vans themselves.

 

Instead, Dang said they were resorting to using bicycles and motorbikes, and many do not cover the meat properly.

 

The Hanoi People's Committee states that meat must be transported in covered boxes. Nguyen Hong Bao, deputy head of Hanoi's Market Watch Department, said the committee delivered 50 free boxes to livestock and poultry traders at Thinh Liet Slaughter House for the safe and hygienic transport of meat. However, the boxes were rarely used because they were considered to be too small.

 

Dang admitted that the boxes supplied could only hold about 40-50kg of meat, while meat from a single slaughtered pig weighed about 70-80kg.