Pork, beef, dirty bones sold on sidewalks near Tet

Pork and beef are sold for tens of thousands of dong.

No shelves, no covering, ribs and pork are piled up on dirty tarps spread out on the ground on Minh Khai street (Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi city).

Without any protection or cover and unhygienic conditions, animal bones are thrown by sellers right on the road and sidewalk to attract customers. Photo: PV GROUP — Without any protection or cover, and in an unsanitary condition, the sellers leave their products scattered all over the road and sidewalks to attract customers. Photo: PV GROUP

According to our records, most of these meat shops sell from morning to afternoon; the pork is not stamped with slaughter control. When we asked about the quality of these meats, the sellers waved their hands and did not answer.

Animal bones spilled on the ground, affecting food hygiene. Photo: PV GROUP — Animal bones spilled on the ground, causing food safety problems. Photo: Reporter Group.

A pork stall along Tam Trinh Street (Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi) also sells pork on the ground, without any protection from dust or refrigeration. The vendor wears no gloves, holds a large knife to chop the bone, rolls each piece on the ground, then picks it up and puts it in a plastic bag to sell to customers.

Despite the potential risk of food safety, these types of shops still attract many customers because of the surprisingly low prices.

The seller said that his family owns a slaughterhouse, so the price of beef is "soft", while in other places it is usually sold at double the price. According to records, 1kg of beef brisket here costs 250,000 VND, while the market price at this time is up to nearly 500,000 VND/kg; 1kg of beef ribs costs 25,000 VND, and marrow bones cost 10,000 VND/kg.

A shopkeeper used his bare hands to chop bones right on the ground at a shop on the street. — A shopkeeper uses his bare hands to chop bones right on the ground at a shop on Tam Trinh street. Photo: PV GROUP.

On Ba La street (Phu Lam ward, Ha Dong district), these days, vendors also display pork for sale everywhere, no different from a makeshift market.

"Restaurants and eateries all come here to buy. At the market, rump meat is sold for 100,000 VND/kg, but here we sell it for 75,000 VND/kg. The meat is unsold so we have to sell it so cheaply," said a vendor.

Video of animal bones and "dirty" pork piled up on the sidewalk.

May be severely punished

According to lawyer Tran Van Linh - Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, the above pork business has two violations: First is the act of avoiding veterinary inspection, meat of livestock is not controlled slaughter by stamping the slaughter control stamp on the carcass of livestock. Second is the violation of regulations on general conditions to ensure food safety in production, business and preservation of food.

When there is a violation as mentioned above, it will be subject to administrative sanctions according to Clause 6, Article 20 of Decree No. 90/2017/ND-CP regulating sanctions for administrative violations in the veterinary field.

Accordingly, cases of evading veterinary inspection, not stamping slaughter control on livestock and poultry carcasses or affixing veterinary hygiene stamps, marking veterinary hygiene-inspected packaging will be subject to administrative penalties as follows:

A fine of 60-70% of the value of animal products, but not exceeding 50 million VND, shall be imposed on the act of transporting and trading livestock and poultry meat and products from livestock and poultry without slaughter control marks, veterinary hygiene stamps, or packaging marked as having passed veterinary hygiene inspection.

Wastewater spills onto the sidewalk from a poultry slaughterhouse on Truong Chinh Street. Photo: PV GROUP — Wastewater spills onto the sidewalk from a poultry slaughterhouse on Truong Chinh Street. Photo: PV Group.

Remedial measures: Compulsory veterinary hygiene inspection of animal products. In case of unsatisfactory veterinary hygiene inspection, compulsory destruction or heat treatment to change the purpose of use.

And administrative sanctions according to Clause 5, Article 9 of Decree 115/2018/ND-CP dated September 4, 2018 on violations of regulations on general conditions to ensure food safety in production, trading, preservation of food, food additives, food processing aids, utensils, packaging materials, and containers that come into direct contact with food.

A fine of 10-15 million VND shall be imposed for one of the following acts: Production, processing, trading, and storage locations are not isolated from sources of dust pollution, toxic chemicals, and other harmful factors.

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