|
Vietnam consumes the world’s dirty meat
Vietnam has become the place which consumes low quality inventory frozen meat of the world, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has warned.
According to Nguyen Thanh Son, Deputy Head of the Livestock Husbandry Department under MARD, the global economic recession has led many countries to clear their inventories by selling products, including frozen meat, at very low prices.
Loosened import restrictions in Vietnam have increased frozen meat imports to 119,130 tons so far this year, compared with 44,178 tons in 2007.
The frozen imports range from buffalo meat, beef, pork to animal viscera and chicken legs. Government inspections have revealed imports past their expiration date with no clear origin and labels. Many have been found to be contaminated, infected with higher-than-allowed levels of impurities.
Son said that if quarantine agencies had not examined the imports carefully, more dirty frozen meat would have entered Vietnam.
“We previously thought that imports were always better than domestic products, but people should know that we have imported a lot of dirty meat,” Son stated. “Vietnam has become a place which consumes the inventory of many countries.”
Management loopholes
Deputy Minister of MARD Diep Kinh Tan also admitted that lax import regulations have made Vietnam a potential market for frozen meat and meat by-products.
“When we export products, the import countries ask us to present many kinds of certificates, but Vietnam does not require them to show documents,” Tan explained.
According to Mai Van Hiep, Deputy Head of the Veterinary Department, many importers have exploited the regulation that allows meat imports to obtain customs clearance first and go through quarantine later. They sell the imports to the domestic market before they get the quarantine certificates.
Meanwhile, Phan Xuan Thao, Deputy Head of the HCM City Veterinary Sub-agency, determined that currently applied regulations do not allow for effective control. Thao said that in many cases, after discovering low quality products, government agencies order different solutions.
Tougher Restrictions
Son stressed that Vietnam must set strict regulations to limit frozen imports in order to protect both local husbandry and consumers’ health.
“We must not accept products with no clear origin and expiration dates. Foreign exporters, including those from developed countries, may collude with domestic importers to dodge the laws,” Son argued.
MARD’s Deputy Minister Diep Kinh Tan said that MARD is cooperating with the Ministry of Health to develop tighter regulations on frozen meat imports.
Tan said that future regulations will require meat imports to provide documents of origin and quarantine certificates granted by export countries. Vietnamese government agencies also need to have the right to inspect slaughtering factories in export countries.
Tightened controls will also be established for domestic importers. Government agencies will make regular inspections of enterprises’ depots two or three times a month. Those that cannot meet requirements set by government agencies will not be allowed to import meat.
vietnamnet, tt
|
