All private slaughter houses in HCM City will be closed by the end of 2013, according to the city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The city now has 30 private slaughter houses, including 26 for pigs, two for cattle, and two for poultry.

To help phase them out by the end of 2013, the city authorities said three new slaughterhouses would open – the Tan Hiep Food Processing Factory capable of handling 1,000-3,000 animals a day, the Hoc Mon Trade Corporation slaughter factory (1,000-2,000 capacity), and the Tan Thanh Slaughter Factory (1,500-2,000).

In 2013, the city authorities will also open two poultry slaughter factories – the Trai Viet Co poultry slaughter house with a capacity of 26,000 birds a day and the Tan Thanh Tay Slaughter Factory with a capacity of 100,000-150,000.

All the new abattoirs will be built in Hoc Mon and Cu Chi districts, which are reasonably close to the city centre, said deputy director of the HCM City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nguyen Phuoc Trung.

“To ensure cooking hygiene and safety, three departments will join hands,” he said.

The Department of Agriculture will manage the various stages involved in slaughtering, manufacturing and processing poultry. The Department of Industry and Trade will manage the prices of livestock products, and the Department of Health will be responsible for managing product quality.

Trung said the municipal People’s Committee was also considering a plan to help the owners of the private slaughter houses being closed to open food stores in Hoc Mon and Binh Dien markets.

He said they would be allowed to borrow capital at preferential interest rates.

HCM City has a population of 7.4 million people who consume more than 237,300 livestock and poultry a day.

Source: VNS