VietNamNet Bridge – Ha Noi People's Committee Vice Chairman Nguyen Huy Tuong has ordered six districts to monitor, and where necessary, shut down traditional slaughterhouses that don't adhere to hygiene and safety standards.
The request came after many slaughterhouse owners chose to relocate to the districts rather than the modern Minh Hien Abattoir in Thanh Oai District as planned, after the city shut down the unhygienic Thinh Liet Abattoir earlier this month.

The districts in question were Hoang Mai, Ha Dong, Long Bien, Tu Liem, Thanh Tri and Gia Lam.

Tuong said slaughterhouses that failed to comply with hygiene and safety standards or polluted the environment would be forced to suspend operations or shut down.

Director of Thanh Tri District's Animal Health Station Nguyen Huy Khiet said that the district's traditional slaughterhouses had raised their capacity from 200 pigs to between 300 and 400 per day since the Thinh Liet Abattoir was shut down.

Deputy director of the Thanh Tri District People's Committee's Economy Unit Nguyen Thi Tuyet Anh said the arrival of butchers from the Thinh Liet slaughterhouse in her district had led to serious hygiene problems.

Two butchers from the Thinh Liet Abattoir had already been forced to suspend operations, she said.

Nguyen Huy Phung, a local resident of Ngoc Hoi Commune in Thanh Tri District said that motorbikes carrying two or three pigs were often seen leaving the commune early in the morning.

"Pigs are piled up on motorbikes without being covered. I guess they transport them to the main markets that way," Phung said.

Butchers at Thinh Liet Abattoir had proposed that the city should keep the facility open until next August, claiming they were charged up to 41 per cent more at the new Minh Hien Abattoir while it was too far away from the city centre, but their proposal had been rejected.

Vice director of Minh Hien Co. Ltd Nguyen Thi Hien said that only four butchers from the Thinh Liet Abattoir had taken out leases, despite the city offering a VND10 million ($476) relocation incentive.

The VND50 billion ($2.38 million) Minh Hien Abattoir is equipped with a waste treatment system and a separate processing system. At full capacity, the facility can handle 1,000 pigs and 10,000 poultry per day, or 30 per cent of the city's demand.

Thinh Liet Abattoir, which used to slaughter around 1,000 pigs and supplied 400 tonnes of meat per day to Ha Noi's markets, was forced to close down due to the serious environmental damage it caused.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News