Vietnam: Pig breeders experience major losses

//20 Apr 2012
Pig breeding farms in Dong Nai Province are facing major losses due to illegal lean meat substances which have been used in pork meat.
Dong Nai Province has 1.2 million pigs being raised in 1,261 farms, with 4,000 pigs being sold each day. There have been reports that customers stopped eating pork because of the discovery of illegal substances being discovered in the meat. This relayed to a sharp drop in pork prices throughout the country.

The price of live pigs in HCMC dropped by VND10,000 (US$ 0.48) per kg to VND42,000 per kg, a loss of VND5,000 per kg for pig-breeders. Chairman of the Standard and Customers’ Right Protection Association in Dong Nai Province, Pham Gia Hai, has stated that there is massive concern surrounding this issue by customers, also feeling that they are purchasing below standard meat.

Substances known as beta-agonists, stimulate growth and promote lean meat have resulted in damages to the breeding farms which is estimated to be about VND500 billion (US$23.9 million). It showed in current test outcomes that 33 pork samples from 12 breeding farms in Thong Nhat and Trang Bom Districts contained banned substances.

Recently, officials have called on criminal charges to be implemented against those who make use of lean meat additives in animal feed. According to Vietnam Feed Association (VFA) vice president Pham Duc Binh, despite the ban, the lean meat additives are still being used in animal farming.