The HCMC government is stepping up a goods storage plan to meet demand in case African swine fever (ASF) hits the city, even though no outbreaks have been reported in the city so far, heard a meeting held today, March 5.

Two animal health workers inspect a piggery in Vietnam

Speaking at the meeting on HCMC’s socio-economic performance in February, Pham Thanh Kien, director of the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade, said that though the disease has yet to be detected in the city, the municipal department is in the process of working with firms to stock up on meat.

In particular, Vissan, Saigon Agriculture Corporation and CP Vietnam Livestock JSC, the city’s main meat suppliers, will join the storage plan. If the domestic goods supply is deficient, these firms would import pork and pork products from the countries that are free from the disease.

In addition, Nguyen Phuoc Trung, director of the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that after inspections into multiple slaughterhouses in HCMC, no pigs were found to have been transported from northern Vietnam to the city.

The department asked the slaughterhouses to not import pigs from the northern provinces but to boost the consumption of pigs farmed in the southeastern provinces, indicating that the pork supply for customers is still guaranteed.

Trung, however, voiced concern over the possibility of pigs continuing to be transported from the north to the south, stating that it is necessary to tighten control over transport, especially when the price of pigs in northern Vietnam falls.

Addressing the meeting, Pham Khanh Phong Lan, head of the HCMC Food Safety Management Board, said that ASF is not dangerous to humans but hurts pigs, and that when these pigs die, farmers fearing losses still sell them for consumption, risking the appearance of other diseases.

Lan also warned against using leftovers from eateries to feed pigs, as it carries the threat of ASF infection.

The city has yet to be hit by ASF, but some cases of foot and mouth disease have been detected in HCMC, Lan said. As a result, control over swine transport from other provinces should be tightened.

Statistics from the HCMC Sub-department of Animal Husbandry and Health show that the city consumes 10,000-11,000 pigs, or 750-800 tons of pork, per day.

HCMC has 4,374 pig farming households, with a total of 301,061 pigs. Of these farming households, 278 in the outlying districts of Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon, Cu Chi and 12 are feeding their pigs leftovers.

SGGP