Filling the "gap" in controlling the slaughter of livestock and poultry

Many violations of veterinary hygiene and food safety conditions

Vietnam currently has a large herd of cattle and poultry, with 2.5 million buffaloes, 6.53 million cows, and 558 million poultry. However, the slaughter of cattle and poultry still faces many difficulties and shortcomings that need to be resolved.

According to statistics, currently, the whole country has only 463 centralized animal slaughterhouses, while there are up to 24,654 small-scale animal slaughterhouses. Most of the small livestock and poultry slaughterhouses do not meet the requirements for facilities, equipment, slaughtering processes, and food preservation. The control at these small-scale slaughterhouses only reaches about 18.6%, leading to a high risk of disease and food safety.

Modernized concentrated slaughterhouses for livestock and poultry have been invested in but have had to operate at a low level.

In fact, the planning and management of slaughter activities are still inadequate, unreasonable, and lack coordination between competent authorities in management. The legal system on slaughter still has many loopholes, has not kept up with reality, and the handling of violations is not strict and not deterrent enough.

Meanwhile, the professional control force and veterinary system are lacking in human resources, many places at the district level no longer have a veterinary system, so managing human resources to carry out quarantine, slaughter control, and veterinary hygiene inspection in the area is very difficult. This force is also not enough to control small-scale slaughtering activities in the management area in the area, leading to many violations of veterinary hygiene conditions and food safety.

What is even more worrying is that people's easy-going consumption habits have unintentionally facilitated the circulation of animal products that do not ensure food safety in the market. People still prefer to buy meat at small slaughterhouses because of the cheap price and convenience, without paying enough attention to food quality and safety.

The consequences of animal products of unknown origin and uncontrolled post-slaughter are huge, not only affecting public health, but also posing the risk of disease outbreaks, causing economic damage... Especially losing the reputation of the livestock industry, affecting the export market .

Currently, there are many policies to support investment in centralized slaughterhouses. However, some places have policies but cumbersome procedures, which do not attract businesses to invest in centralized slaughterhouses, and make it difficult to access loans...

Clear assignment of people and responsibilities

To fill the gap in controlling the slaughter of livestock and poultry, and to bring this activity into order and professionalism, it is necessary to first perfect the legal system. Accordingly, provinces and cities need to effectively implement the Livestock Development Strategy for the period 2021 - 2030 and vision to 2045 according to the Prime Minister's Decision (Decision 1520 dated October 6, 2020), including the project "Developing the slaughter and processing industry and the livestock product market by 2030". Re-plan the network of slaughterhouses, focusing on centralized and modern slaughterhouses. It is possible to pilot poultry slaughtering activities in large market centers and urban areas, but ensure control.

Animal products are controlled before being put on the market to ensure food safety.

Next, there should be specific preferential policies to support centralized slaughterhouses. In fact, building a centralized slaughterhouse is very expensive, especially the environmental treatment system and advanced equipment and technology that meet standards. In addition, there are many difficulties and shortcomings in land policies, taxes, and construction of raw material areas, so it is necessary to have preferential policies to attract businesses to invest in this activity. In particular, businesses are currently tending to build chain links from livestock farming to slaughtering, preliminary processing, and processing to improve investment efficiency, so it is necessary to have preferential policies to attract investment from businesses.

Regarding management, it is necessary to clearly decentralize the responsibility of managing slaughter activities to local authorities. Build a team of management staff with expertise and skills in animal slaughter and food safety, especially at the district and commune levels when there are organizational changes in the grassroots veterinary system.

In particular, it is necessary to promote the application of information technology in the management of slaughter activities, traceability of animals and animal products. Update and share information on transportation, issue quarantine certificates for transporting animals (breeds, commercial animals, animal products, etc.) between provinces and cities nationwide to improve the effectiveness of controlling animals and animal products.

At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen inspection and control of slaughter activities, especially for small-scale slaughterhouses. Apply strict sanctions for violations. Assign responsibility to the heads of local authorities to prevent small-scale slaughter, especially in villages, communes, wards and towns. Raise awareness of consumers and livestock breeders in slaughter and processing activities through communication and training for people.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/lap-khoang-trong-kiem-soat-giet-mo-gia-suc-gia-cam.html