Vietnam does not import pork from Ireland

After Ireland announced the discovery of dioxin in its pork, the substance that causes cancer, Nguyen Thanh Son, Deputy Head of the Animal Husbandry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), made the prompt affirmation that Vietnam has not imported any meat products or animal feed from Ireland.

International press agencies reported that dioxin contamination was confirmed on Saturday and the use of contaminated animal feed was identified to be the source of the contamination.

According to Son, meat is being imported mainly from Brazil, Argentina, and the US. As Ireland has been selling meat at the prices higher than the levels offered by other countries, Vietnam has never had the intention of importing their meat.

Nguyen Cong Khan, Head of the Ministry of Health’s Food Safety Department, said that right after receiving the information about Ireland’s dioxin contaminated pork, the department and the MARD have set up a system which allows discovering any problems with meat imports.

On December 9, the European Commission (EC) asked the countries in the EU to examine pork and the products made from pork imported from Ireland.

According to the EC, twelve EU countries, namely Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Belgium, Estonia, Sweden, the UK, Portugal and Cyprus, and eight other countries such as Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Russia, Singapore, China, and the Republic of Korea, have reportedly had imports from Ireland.

The EC plans to organize two meetings this week to discuss the risks of causing diseases to human being by the products.

China has announced it has halted importing pork and animal feed sourced from Ireland, while recalling the products made from Ireland-sourced pork. Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Russia have also made similar announcements.

Bulgaria has released the decision on prohibiting selling pork and the products made of pork imported from Ireland, while inspecting all the 112 cold storages nationwide and all 437 meat processing companies. 60 tonnes of pork have been seized. In Portugal, 30 tonnes of Ireland sourced pork have also been recalled.

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