Undocumented cattle bowels showing signs of expiration were found packed and frozen in Ho Chi Minh City

Food safety authorities in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday seized tons of cattle bowels and legs stored illegally in poor conditions.

Food safety regulations require fresh cattle and poultry products to be consumed within a day while frozen goods must be officially registered with local agencies.

Officials from the city Animal Health Department said during the inspection that the products were to be supplied to restaurants but the owner of the goods said the bowels and legs had been bought to sell as crocodile feed.

The owner, whose name has not been released, failed to produce any sale contracts or invoices.

The products were stored in plastic boxes with no labels and no production or expiry dates.

Many people who sell unclean animal intestines, heads and legs to restaurants in the city often claim they are using the products for animal feed when they are caught, said an official from the department.

Bui Quang Anh, head of the Animal Health Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, told Thanh Nien in an interview in July that the department would ban the import of cookings that are unusable in other countries.

Anh spoke to Thanh Nien after the paper carried reports about goat penis shipments from Australia contaminated with bacteria. The imports were labeled inedible but sold locally as food.

Reported by Quang Thuan