Lesson 1: Widespread Unlicensed Operating Establishments

According to statistics from the authorities, there are more than 50 small-scale livestock slaughtering facilities scattered throughout residential areas in Lao Cai city.

It is known that, in the past, although the local authorities and functional agencies of Lao Cai city have repeatedly inspected, dealt with, and requested commitments to cease operations, many small-scale livestock and poultry slaughtering points located within residential areas are still operating.

Nam Cuong Ward currently has 5 households engaged in slaughtering livestock at home. Since the beginning of the year, the ward authorities and the Lao Cai City Veterinary Station have conducted several inspections and requested these households to stop slaughtering livestock at home and to commit to not repeating the offense, but the results have not been very effective.

The existence of small-scale livestock slaughterhouses lacking three essential elements—no veterinary control, no environmental protection, and no food safety and hygiene standards—is a cause for concern among consumers.

Mr. Hoang Van Th., a resident of Group 2, Nam Cuong Ward, expressed his frustration: "Right next to my house is a slaughterhouse where they slaughter around ten pigs a day. For many years, my family and the surrounding households have had to live with the noise and foul smell from this pig slaughtering facility. Although we have complained to the local authorities many times, the problem persists. At the end of 2023, when we heard that the city government had a plan to relocate livestock slaughtering facilities to a centralized area, everyone was happy, but to this day, it has not been implemented."

Currently, the daily food consumption demand in Lao Cai city is approximately over 10 tons of pork (100-120 pigs), not including other types of livestock and poultry meat. However, the Lao Cai City Veterinary Station only inspects slaughtering at a single facility in Group 29, Lao Cai Ward (this facility slaughters about 20-30 pigs per day). Therefore, about 80% of the livestock slaughtered and sold on the market have not undergone veterinary inspection, and no one knows for sure how many of these animals are sick or diseased.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tam, Head of the Veterinary Station of Lao Cai City, said: Currently, the majority of meat consumed in the city comes from small-scale slaughterhouses, which poses many potential food safety risks for consumers.

In 2023, when specialized agencies took meat samples from markets in the city, 34 out of 105 samples tested positive for African swine fever.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tam, Head of the Veterinary Station of Lao Cai City

Faced with the proliferation of small-scale livestock slaughterhouses, in May 2024, the People's Committee of Lao Cai City issued Document No. 882 on rectifying and strengthening the management and control of animal slaughter, ensuring disease safety and food safety. Accordingly, it directed communes and wards to invite households engaged in livestock and poultry slaughtering to meetings to inform them of their commitment to complying with regulations on business and slaughtering of livestock and poultry to ensure disease safety and food hygiene at their facilities. At the same time, it instructed villages and residential areas to strengthen propaganda to encourage people not to use meat products of unknown origin, those that do not meet veterinary hygiene standards, or products without slaughter control marks or veterinary hygiene stamps.

However, a paradox arises: currently, the entire city only has one small-scale slaughterhouse located in Lao Cai ward with a capacity of about 20 pigs per day (this facility is controlled by the veterinary agency regarding the input of live pigs and the output of meat), thus only supplying a small portion of the pork needed to meet the demands of restaurants and hotels. Furthermore, every day, most meat stalls in markets throughout the city still sell livestock and poultry meat that has not been inspected by the veterinary agency, yet no agency seems to be taking action…

Furthermore, if small, scattered slaughterhouses interspersed within residential areas are completely banned, where will these facilities be relocated, given that the city has not yet planned or allocated a centralized livestock slaughtering area? Therefore, to avoid a situation where enforcement is ineffective in controlling illegal, small-scale livestock slaughtering facilities, Lao Cai city urgently needs a comprehensive and decisive solution.

Final question: We need to find the solution quickly.

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Source: https://baolaocai.vn/bai-1-tran-lan-co-so-hoat-dong-chui-post385588.html