Containers of imported meat at a southern Vietnamese port

Food regulators don’t have the resources needed to inspect imports thoroughly, said experts as a local official proclaimed that other countries were dumping their unsalable meat here.

The survey showed that only one locality could detect antibiotic surpluses and only eight were able to record micro-fungus toxins, Tram told the country’s first-ever meeting on cooking inspection.

Most of the surveyed localities could not detect preservatives or antioxidants either, she said, adding that 70 percent of them even could even verify foods’ nutrition facts due to a shortage of necessary equipment.

The survey also pointed out that several areas, including the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang, sonly checked imports’ documentation, rather than actual samples of the goods themselves.

Delta provinces like Tra Vinh, Kien Giang and Vinh Long had failed to fine violators and issued light warnings instead, according to the survey.

The survey even found that food inspectors in the Mekong’s Ben Tre Province had on at least one occasion found Pseudomonas aeruginosa – a common bacterium that causes fatal infections – in a local bottled water brand without making the information public. Inspectors in charge said they believed the organism was harmless, according to the survey.

After a review of these failures, participants in the meeting couldn’t help but raise their eyebrows at VFA statistics that showed only 11 batches of substandard imported food had been found over the first half year, compared to 32 last year.

It will take more time to improve food quality management, said VFA Director General Nguyen Cong Khuan at the meeting.

Meat matters

At another meeting chaired by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Ho Chi Minh City, the Department of Animal Health of Vietnam presented several suggestions concerning the control of meat imports.

Above all, the ministry suggested a temporary suspension on the import of viscera and cattle and poultry byproducts. The ministry said it would also be necessary to only allow companies meeting certain standards to import meat and animal products.

According to the department, many companies were importing and trading frozen meat even though it wasn’t there main line of business. Ministry representative said this would jeopardize food safety; however, they did not give specific figures of how many companies were doing so.

The ministry also suggested that all imported meat be tested by animal health agencies before customs clearance and that foreign companies committing more than one violation be suspended from entering Vietnam.

Nguyen Xuan Binh – vice director of the Animal Health Agency Zone No.6, said related agencies would also conduct inspections of meat storage facilities once every 2-3 months.

“Local agencies may even send representatives to check exporters’ slaughterhouses,” said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural development Diep Kinh Tan.

The meeting was held following the recent exposure several imported frozen meat safety violations.

Unsalable meat dump

Due to the global crisis, many countries are dumping unsalable goods, including meat and other animal parts, into others by selling them very cheaply, according to Nguyen Thanh Son, deputy director general of Animal Husbandry Department.

With the lax management of imports, Vietnam has seen a sharp increase in frozen meat imports over the past three years, according to participants at the meeting.

Statistics from the animal health department showed that meat imports had almost tripled in volume last year from over 44,000 tons in 2007.

More than 57,000 tons of meat imports were brought in from other countries during the first half of this year, it added.

However, many of the imports were found to be of bad quality like being expired or contaminated, it said.

“We have long believed that meat imported from other countries is better than the domestic meat, but it now turns out that the former is much worse,” Son told the meeting.

“Vietnam’s market is becoming a market for many countries to dump their unsalable goods.”

Source: Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre