Lesson 1: Illegal operations are rampant

According to statistics from authorities, in Lao Cai city there are more than 50 small-scale slaughterhouses located in residential areas.

It is known that recently, although local authorities and functional agencies of Lao Cai city have repeatedly inspected, handled and requested commitments to stop operations, there are still many small-scale livestock and poultry slaughterhouses located in residential areas operating.

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

The existence of small-scale slaughterhouses with "3 no's": no veterinary control, no environmental protection, and no food safety and hygiene assurance makes consumers worried.

Mr. Hoang Van Th., a resident of Group 2, Nam Cuong Ward, was upset: Right next to my house, there is a "slaughterhouse", where they slaughter dozens of pigs every day. For many years, my family and the surrounding households have had to live with the noise and stench from this pig slaughterhouse. Although we have repeatedly complained to the local authorities, the problem still recurs. At the end of 2023, when we heard that the city government had a policy of relocating livestock slaughterhouses to a concentrated area, everyone was happy, but so far there has been no implementation.

Currently, the food consumption demand of people in Lao Cai city is about 10 tons of pork (from 100 - 120 pigs) per day, not to mention other types of livestock and poultry meat. However, Lao Cai City Veterinary Station only controls slaughtering at the only slaughterhouse in Group 29, Lao Cai Ward (this facility slaughters about 20 - 30 pigs per day). Thus, about 80% of the slaughtered livestock are still brought to the market without veterinary quarantine and no one knows for sure how many of them are sick or infected.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tam, Head of Lao Cai City Veterinary Station, said: Currently, most of the meat consumed in the city comes from small slaughterhouses, so there are many potential risks related to food safety for consumers.

In 2023, the specialized agency took meat samples at markets in the city and found that 34/105 meat samples tested positive for African swine fever.
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tam, Head of Lao Cai City Veterinary Station

Faced with the situation of small-scale livestock slaughterhouses springing up everywhere, in May 2024, Lao Cai City People's Committee 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 in the area to meet to inform them of their commitments to regulations on business and slaughter of livestock and poultry to ensure disease safety and food hygiene and safety at the facility. At the same time, it deployed to villages and residential groups to strengthen propaganda for people not to use livestock and poultry meat products of unknown origin, not ensuring veterinary hygiene, products without slaughter control marks or veterinary hygiene stamps...

However, a paradox is that currently, the whole city has only one small-scale slaughterhouse located in Lao Cai ward with a capacity of about 20 pigs/day and night (this facility is controlled by the veterinary agency for the input and output of live pigs), so it can only supply a small portion of the pork volume to meet the needs of restaurants and hotels. Moreover, every day, most of the meat stalls in the local markets still sell a lot of livestock and poultry meat that has not been quarantined by the veterinary agency, but no agency has handled it...

Along with that, if we completely ban small-scale slaughterhouses located in residential areas, where should these facilities move to, while the city has not yet planned and arranged an area to build a concentrated slaughterhouse. Therefore, to avoid the situation of "kidnapping and abandoning the plate" in controlling illegal small-scale slaughterhouses, Lao Cai city needs to urgently have a synchronous and resolute solution.

Final post: Need to find a solution quickly

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