VietNamNet Bridge - If this volume of outdated beef was not detected, it would have been distributed to restaurants and factory kitchens.

This huge amount of imported beef which was out of date for two years, was accidently found in a cold storage in Binh Chanh District, HCM City, on December 18.

That day, the veterinary agency checked the storage and found 39 boxes of frozen beef imported from Canada, with the manufacturing date of January 26, 2011, and the expired date of January 26, 2012. The owner – Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong – could not show the related invoices. She said an acquaintance bought the beef for her at the price of VND5,000/kg ($0.2) and it would be sold to a man in Go Vap district to process into animal feed.

After the discovery, the inspectors kept inspecting the storage of -18 to -22oC and finally they detected the 12 tons of outdated beef. "The beef was hid behind thick layers of frozen seafood. Our sources confirmed that the outdated beef was hid here, so we were determined to find it," said Mr. Khuong Tran Phuc Nguyen, head of the veterinary station of Binh Chanh district.

The beef was imported from Canada and Australia and the owner has not been identified yet, Nguyen added.

This is one of the five largest cold seafood storages in the district of Binh Chanh. The storage of beef in this warehouse is illegal because it was not reported to the veterinary agency.

According to the warehouse manager, the owner of the beef is a joint stock company based in District 5, but inspectors failed to contact this company through the registered phone numbers.

This company has a website selling imported beef and the address of its showroom is the temporary residence address registered by Ms. Huong, the owner of 39 boxes of outdated beef.

According to the Vietnam Livestock Association, in 2013 approximately 95,000 tons of meat was imported into Vietnam, consisting of two kinds – expensive and cheap meat. Frozen meat is mainly consumed in factory kitchens or popular restaurants.

Nguyen said in principle, expired meat must be declared to the veterinary agency for destroying or being used for other purposes, but in fact meat traders never obey this rule.

"Expired meat is often provided for restaurants or factory kitchens because once it is processed, nobody knows it is expired meat or not," Nguyen said.

P. Linh