Shortly after some husbandry units in Dong Nai were reported to feed their pigs controlled substances, the whole husbandry industry in Vietnam met with difficulties as consumers faced a harder time purchasing pork.
Shortly after some husbandry units in Dong Nai were reported to feed their pigs controlled substances, the whole husbandry industry in Vietnam met with difficulties as consumers faced a harder time purchasing pork.
Last February, officials found beta-Agonists, a banned lean meat enhancing drug in some pig-rearing households in Dong Nai. Northern Hung Yen province is about 2,000 km far from this province but the "lean meat" story soon affected Ha, owner of a pig farm in the area.
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A market watch team found and seized 2.5 tonnes lean meat powder at Nhan Loc Ltd. Co in Binh Loi Commune, Vinh Cuu District. On March 10, the team also found 220 kg of lean meat powder in Thien Huong Phat Company in Trang Bom District, Dong Nai province. All the chemicals create leaner and less fat pigs proven to cause harm to humans. Dong Nai officials are further investigating these cases. Meanwhile MARD's husbandry department is checking the samples of pork and fodder in the south. They plan to have the results at the end of this month. MARD's official also designed stricter fines and punishments for violators who treat pigs with banned products or ones who trade the banned drugs on the market. |
Before the bad news, Ha sold 50 tonnes of pork to the market each month, but he could no longer keep up that figure. Ha, whose farm was found to have no poisonous fodder, said he lost about VND500,000-700,000 (US$25-35) with for each 100 kg of pork since the news.
Nguyen Thanh Son, deputy chairman of the Husbandry Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture Development (MARD) said the price of pork has been reduced by 10 or 15 per cent in the southern region since the news. If the trend continues, he added, farmers would not raise new pigs, and therefore, the pork prices would go up again, troubling the market.
In the two last years, Son's department found no poisonous fodder in the concentrated husbandry farms in their regular checking tours. Son confirmed that the banned powder was found in some pig-raising households in Dong Nai.
Son's counterpart Nguyen Xuan Duong, said it was possible for his department to control the nearly 20,000 concentrated husbandry farms, but it was difficult to check all the 7 million small pig-raising households in Vietnam.
Be smart and not over concerned
Consumer Pham Thi Lan in Nguyen Chi Thanh of Ha Noi said the best way to avoid toxic meat was exercising caution. Lan said to "never buy the too lean meat with an unusual colour," adding "don't buy pork sold with too thin skin and too little or no fat."
Husbandry deputy chairman Son advised people not to be overly concerned as not all the pork was infected with the poisonous fodder. Son said "Vietnam has many good pigs, up to 64 per cent lean. Consumers should buy pork from registered producers."
(Source: VNS)
