The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that by the end of September this year, our country had spent 1.24 billion USD to import meat and animal by-products for food, a sharp increase of 19.2% over the same period last year.

This group of products is imported mainly from India, the US, Russia, Germany and South Korea.

Notably, from the effective date of Circular No. 04 (May 16, 2024) to September 25, 55 imported shipments were found positive for Salmonella (bacteria causing diarrhea, fever, etc.) out of a total of 6,679 shipments tested for Salmonella, accounting for nearly 1%.

Without Salmonella testing, nearly 1,320 tons of meat contaminated with Salmonella would have been imported into Vietnam, posing a very high risk of causing disease, food insecurity, and affecting the health of consumers - the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development emphasized.

W-imported meat.png
Imported meat is sold everywhere in supermarkets at cheap prices. Photo: Duy Khanh

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, import quarantine for negative batches is carried out within 1-3 days; only about 1% of batches of positive animal products need to be cultured and isolated for confirmation, taking 5-6 working days in accordance with current legal regulations.

Regarding Circular 04, the Department of Animal Health (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) held a meeting with agricultural counselors and officials from the embassies of Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Canada. These countries all confirmed that there were no major problems.

Several agricultural counselors from the United States, Brazil, Singapore, France, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands, etc. expressed concern that the issuance of Circular No. 04 would cause difficulties in importing meat from other countries and requested discussion and clarification of regulations on quarantine of animals and terrestrial animal products.

However, the Department of Animal Health affirmed that the issuance of Circular 04 complied with international law and did not cause difficulties for import businesses in the recent past.

According to the Department of Animal Health, countries also have very strict regulations when importing meat, egg and milk products from Vietnam.

For example, the EU stipulates that there must be no Salmonella spp in 25g of meat; the total E.coli count must not exceed 102 to 5,102 depending on the type of product. The UK requires Vietnam to have a national program to monitor Salmonella spp for processed chicken products that are being negotiated for export to this country.

South Korea also has similar requirements for Salmonella spp control. Japan, Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union have requested Vietnam to organize Salmonella spp control when negotiating and exporting cooked chicken to member countries' markets.

China requires monitoring and testing for Salmonella spp when exporting milk to this market.

Domestically, businesses and associations have repeatedly petitioned the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to strictly control imported goods to protect domestic livestock and protect consumer health.

Spending over 1 billion USD on food, housewives are shocked by the super cheap price of imported meat . In just 8 months, our country has spent over 1 billion USD to import meat and edible by-products. The prices of these imported items in Vietnam have surprised many people because they are so cheap.