In major urban areas of the province, especially Bien Hoa City and Trang Bom District, many unlicensed animal slaughter facilities have existed for decades. Many of these unlicensed slaughterhouses bring in more pigs, buffaloes, and cattle for slaughter than licensed facilities.
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| A joint inter-agency inspection team from Thong Nhat District inspected and discovered an unlicensed slaughterhouse in the district. Photo: B. Nguyen |
Despite frequent crackdowns by authorities, unlicensed animal slaughter facilities continue to operate brazenly due to insufficient and weak penalties.
* Illegal animal slaughter continues to run rampant.
According to the Dong Nai Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, in 2021, the province still had many unlicensed animal slaughter facilities, including: Bien Hoa City with 62 facilities, Trang Bom District with 37 facilities, Nhon Trach District with 13 facilities, Dinh Quan District with 13 facilities, Tan Phu District with 13 facilities, etc. These illegal slaughterhouses would reduce or temporarily suspend operations when authorities intensified inspections, and would resume normal operations when the situation calmed down. Throughout 2022 and the first three months of 2023, the province inspected and handled hundreds of cases of violations in the slaughtering, preliminary processing, processing, transportation, trading of animals and animal products, and veterinary hygiene.
According to Nguyen Truong Giang, Head of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of Dong Nai province, currently 70-80% of human diseases are transmitted from animals. Therefore, planning slaughterhouses to be separated from residential areas, especially resolutely dealing with unlicensed slaughterhouses in residential areas, is for the health of thousands, even millions, of consumers. |
Furthermore, small-scale poultry slaughtering points are still common in temporary markets. The situation regarding the trading of livestock and poultry meat without slaughter control stamps, veterinary hygiene labels, or quarantine certificates remains complex, especially in Tam Hoa Market and Sat Market (Bien Hoa City).
According to Nguyen Truong Giang, head of the Dong Nai Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, unlicensed animal slaughter facilities remain widespread in the province, particularly concentrated in large urban areas. Many large-scale, unlicensed slaughterhouses have continued to operate for years, such as the buffalo and cattle slaughterhouse in Trang Bom District, which slaughters approximately 20 buffalo and cattle per night; and numerous illegal slaughterhouses slaughtering dozens of pigs per night in Long Thanh, Vinh Cuu, and Nhon Trach districts. Currently, centralized animal slaughter facilities face intense competition from these illegal facilities, leading to inefficient operations. Most centralized slaughterhouses operate at only 40-50% of their designed capacity. Some centrally-invested slaughterhouses in the province have had to cease operations. One of the main reasons these facilities are inefficient is their inability to compete with unlicensed animal slaughterhouses.
According to the People's Committee of Bien Hoa City, in 2022, the city established numerous inspection teams to crack down on illegal animal slaughtering, imposing administrative fines totaling nearly 1 billion VND on these establishments. As a result, there are now only over 40 illegal slaughtering facilities in the city, a significant reduction compared to before. However, illegal slaughtering activities in the city remain complex, mainly concentrated in Trang Dai and Long Binh wards. Bien Hoa City has proposed three solutions to control animal slaughtering: strengthening inspections of slaughterhouses, handling pigs transported on the roads, and inspecting trading points to address illegal slaughtering.
The penalties are not strong enough to be a deterrent.
The reason unlicensed animal slaughter facilities have persisted for decades is due to insufficient deterrent penalties. Trang Bom District has many concentrated animal slaughter facilities, distributed across most communes in the district. However, illegal slaughtering is quite rampant in this area, with the highest concentration in Binh Minh commune. According to some centralized slaughter facilities in Trang Bom District, although the unlicensed facilities have pledged not to engage in illegal slaughtering anymore, they continue to do so. When authorities conduct strict inspections, they only bring a portion of their pigs to the centralized slaughter facility for slaughter, while the rest are slaughtered at home.
According to an official from Bien Hoa City, the city has also urged unlicensed livestock and poultry slaughtering facilities to relocate to centralized slaughterhouses, but they have not complied. The biggest difficulty is that violations are only subject to low administrative fines, and the meat from unlicensed slaughtering is confiscated, heat-treated, and then returned to the violating facility. Authorities inspecting and penalizing unlicensed slaughtering operations face insults and resistance. Collecting fines from these violating facilities also proves challenging.
According to Ngo Thanh Tung, Head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Thong Nhat District, the highest administrative fine for illegal slaughtering of livestock and poultry is only 6-8 million VND. In some cases, inspection teams have recorded seven violations with complete documentation, but criminal prosecution is impossible. Furthermore, illegal slaughterhouses are extremely aggressive and willing to resist inspection teams, making the inspection and handling of illegal slaughtering extremely difficult.
Sharing the same view, Deputy Director of the Provincial Market Management Department Vo Khac Nhu affirmed that catching and handling illegal slaughtering of livestock and poultry faces many difficulties. Not only are inspections at illegal slaughterhouses challenging, but the illegal pig transporters are also very aggressive, readily driving their vehicles past inspection teams stationed at checkpoints. Here, local authorities play a crucial role in accurately compiling statistics on the number of establishments and in addressing the problem of illegal slaughtering.
Plains
Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee VO VAN PHI:
Coordinate efforts to thoroughly address the problem of illegal animal slaughter.
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Planning for centralized animal slaughter and addressing illegal slaughtering are crucial for controlling and managing disease outbreaks and ensuring food safety and hygiene. The government recognizes the shortcomings in animal slaughter management and has issued Directive No. 02/CT-TTg dated January 14, 2023, on strengthening the management and control of animal slaughter to ensure disease and food safety. This serves as a basis for localities to focus on managing animal slaughter. Departments, agencies, and localities within the province need to coordinate comprehensively in managing and handling all stages, from controlling animal slaughter to transportation and consumption.
Communes and wards conduct inspections on the right people at the right time. Veterinary staff must fulfill their responsibilities in veterinary management and work. The Department of Industry and Trade conducts inspections at markets; meat that has not undergone quarantine is not allowed to circulate in the market. The police force investigates and strictly handles violations of animal slaughtering regulations to ensure public health and disease safety for livestock in the province.
Deputy Head of the Environmental Crime Prevention Police Department of the Provincial Police, NGUYEN TAN LONG:
Strictly punish illegal transportation and slaughter of animals.
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Recently, the provincial police force, primarily the environmental police, has intensified inspections and enforcement against illegal animal slaughter and the transportation of animal products without quarantine; numerous violations related to illegal and disease-infected animal slaughter have been penalized. The provincial police have also initiated legal proceedings in one case involving the slaughter of disease-infected animals in Thong Nhat District.
At the same time, the Provincial Police have coordinated with departments, agencies, and localities to disseminate information on controlling animal slaughter to prevent disease outbreaks and ensure food safety and hygiene. However, to effectively control illegal animal slaughter, transportation, and consumption of uninspected animal products, close coordination between police forces at all levels and relevant agencies is necessary. The role of Party committees and local authorities is particularly important in this regard.
Le Quyen (recorded)
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