Hanoi (VNA) - Hanoians are raisingmore concerns about food safety and hygiene in the run-up to Tet, the Lunar NewYear celebrations, as some recent visible violations related to animalslaughter in the city are especially troubling.  

On November 25, Hanoi police and the AnimalHealth Department found nearly 200 pigs with foot-and-mouth disease in Dong SonCommune of Hanoi’s Chuong My District.

The pigs were on two trucks which departed fromnorthern Hai Duong province, heading to the border province of Cao Bang forexport to China. They returned to Hanoi after Chinese traders refused to buythem, truck drivers told police.

They said that they were hired to transport thepigs without knowing the animals were ill.

Commuters travelling along Trung Van Street inHanoi’s Nam Tu Liem District have also raised concerns over the sale of animalsincluding buffalo, yellow cow, wild pig, crocodile and ostrich on the pavement.

The animals are slaughtered on the pavement, nextto a poster saying “Wild pig available on Monday” or “Ostrich available onTuesday”.

The pavement slaughtering ignores regulations onhygiene, animal quarantine and food safety.

Tran Duc Chung, head of Ba La Animal QuarantineStation in Ha Dong District, said quarantine officers face difficulties inpunishing drivers who transport animals of unknown origin.

They usually claimed that they were hired totransport the animals and did not own them, Chung said.

Another difficulty was that animal quarantinestations usually did not have space to store seized animals that requirefurther testing, he added.

Vice head of Hanoi’s Animal Health DepartmentNguyen Ngoc Son said that the sale of animals at illegal street-side markets ortemporary markets in residential areas was popular as the number and size ofmarkets in Hanoi failed to meet demand.

Son said that sellers, mostly from suburbandistricts or neighbouring provinces carried meat by motorbikes to illegalstreet-side markets. Poultry sellers usually slaughtered the ducks or chickensat their stalls, which violated slaughtering, food safety and environmentregulations.

“Loose management over animal quarantine is seenat grass root levels,” he said.

In 2015, the city’s Health Animal Department andits branches destroyed thousands of animals and animal products of unknownorigin including 20 pigs, 2.3 tonnes of poultry meat, over 2,500 poultry, 685kilos of buffalo and two tonnes of meat. But the crackdown was a drop in theocean, Son admitted.

Quarantine officers in communes complained thattheir salary was too low whereas their working hours were too long as animalslaughtering usually occurred from midnight to early morning.

Head of Thuong Tin District Animal QuarantineStation, Duong Xuan Tinh said that they did not have enough staff to inspectall local slaughtering houses at once.

“Quarantine officers’ job is hard as manyparties including animal raisers and wholesalers join slaughtering activities,which can be done anywhere, not just slaughtering houses as regulated,” Tinhsaid. — VNA