People cautiously buy pork
According to a survey by reporters, some distribution units have temporarily stopped trading in CP Company's products to wait for official conclusions.
In Can Tho City, CP's pork products are gradually disappearing from supermarkets, with only items such as chicken and sausages still being maintained for sale with many attractive promotions and discounts.
Ms. Le Thi Tuyen (Can Tho City) is concerned about affecting her family's health, because she had previously eaten meat from CP. She said that in the past few days, she tried to wake up early and go to the market to buy fresh pork at a regular store to prepare meals.
Meanwhile, the family of Ms. Ngo Thi Kieu Diem (Hung Loi Ward, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City) is limiting the intake of pork, instead of fish, beef, shrimp... However, Ms. Diem said that this is only an immediate solution because pork is a popular ingredient in Vietnamese dishes. "I hope the state agency will soon clarify the dirty meat issue so that people can shop and choose food safety products with peace of mind" - Ms. Diem said.
According to some people, the incident also raises serious problems with the quality control capacity and transparency of the entire food industry; at the same time, warning about the role of information on social networks in causing a media crisis.
In Ho Chi Minh City, a number of food stores and retail systems that imported products of CP Vietnam Company have announced the temporary suspension of sales of products of this brand.
At a supermarket on Hoa Hung Street (District 10, Ho Chi Minh City), an employee said that he had temporarily stopped importing and selling pork from CP Vietnam Company. Some other food stores in Go Vap district, Thu Duc city have also stopped importing goods from CP Vietnam Company, and have switched to other suppliers.
Meanwhile, Bach Hoa Xanh, Co.opmart, GO!... stores of CP Company are still selling pork normally. However, the number of customers buying products of this unit has decreased slightly.
Urgent inspection at business locations of C.P Company
The scandal over dirty pork originated from a social media post by a former employee of CP Fresh Shop, under CP Vietnam Livestock Joint Stock Company (CP Company) in My Xuyen District, Soc Trang. This person accused the store of not ensuring quality meat to the market and affirmed that the complaint stemmed from the desire to protect consumers' rights, not for personal reasons or profiteering.
Immediately afterwards, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MONRE) directed an emergency inspection at the business locations of CP Vietnam Livestock Joint Stock Company. The interdisciplinary inspection team including the Departments of Natural Resources and Environment, Health, Industry and Trade, and Soc Trang Provincial Police conducted a surprise inspection. Soc Trang province has also sent a document requesting Hau Giang province to coordinate in verifying information related to the epidemic situation that is believed to be related to the origin of meat.
Together with the interdisciplinary inspection team of Hau Giang province, on June 2, a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper went to a slaughterhouse in the province to prepare for CP Company. At the Dung - Nga facility owned by Ms. Tran Thi Nga, about 500 pigs of the Vietnam Fatherland Front are being gathered. On average, the facility slaughters about 30-40 pigs/day. The area of the slaughter area is about 500m2.
At the time of checking, Mr. Ha Huu Tam (management of slaughter facilities of C.P Company in Hau Giang) said that the image on March 26, 2022 was posted and spread online as the image taken at this slaughter facility. When the pig was discovered not clean, not guaranteed to be marketed, the slaughterhouse was with the company and the veterinary agency to coordinate to handle, sign a decision to cancel the pig by burning and used for other purposes of feeding fish.
This detail has led to doubts in public opinion about the process of handling and destroying sick pigs. Because according to Circular 07/2016/TT-BNNPTNT, the measure to destroy sick pigs is to bury or burn them, not feed them fish because they can spread the disease.
Circular 09/2016/TT-BNNPTNT stipulates slaughter control and veterinary hygiene inspection, including slaughter control samples. In the animal slaughter control stamp used at domestic slaughterhouses, the square stamp is the slaughter control stamp, the triangle stamp is the cancellation stamp. Meanwhile, the image of sick pigs at this facility was stamped in the square.
By the morning of June 4, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien had requested the Ministry of Public Security to investigate and handle information spread on social networks about denouncing CP Livestock Joint Stock Company for selling sick pork. The Deputy Minister also signed an official dispatch to the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine regarding the inspection and verification of the incorrect quarantine stampation of the sick pigs of CP Vietnam Livestock Joint Stock Company.
