HCM City’s programme for tracing the origin of poultry meat sold at retail outlets kicked off on October 3, according to the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade.

Employees stick stamps with origin and other details on poultry meat at San Ha Company in Long An. (Photo: www.nld.com.vn)

Department officials have made site visits to some poultry farms and  slaughterhouses in Dong Thap, Long An and Dong Nai provinces to ensure things are ready for the rollout.

Nguyen Huu Tri, quality management director of San Ha Foods Company, said the company is ready to supply traceable poultry meat, and in the initial stages would supply around 20,000 chickens daily through the retail channel, including its own stores.

Customers can use the QR Code decoding applications from Zalo or from  www.te-food.com to scan the electronic stamp on packages.

The stamps will contain information about the poultry strain, breeding period, name of farm, feed, vaccination schedule, when slaughtered and others.

The traceable chickens were bred at the company’s farm in Binh Duong and other farms with which it collaborated in Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Tien Giang, and Long An provinces.

A month after traceable chicken eggs began to be sold, duck eggs are also set to join poultry meat in the programme today.

Truong Chi Thien, director of Vinh Thanh Dat Food Co Ltd, the only company to supply origin-traceable duck eggs initially, said 50,000-60,000 eggs would be supplied daily through modern retail outlets.

Two months later it can increase the number to 100,000 and also supply traditional markets, he said.

The company is tying up with poultry farms in Dong Thap, Tien Giang and Can Tho to ensure a stable supply of products, he said.

Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, said it is easier to trace the origins of poultry meat and eggs than that of pork because chicken farms are not small and scattered like pig farms. 

Once the programme stabilises, traceable poultry meat and eggs would also be sold through traditional markets, he said.

The department has instructed each sales outlet to put up banners and instruction boards and post staff to help customers with tracing the origin of products, he said.

Thirty five farms supplying chicks, 431 selling chicken meat, 59 selling chicken eggs, 13 slaughterhouses and meat packaging establishments, and nine egg packaging establishments have registered to join the programme.

Hoa said the programme managers would continue to study other poultry farms and persuade those with a closed breeding process to sign up.

VNA