Recently, information about the slaughter and consumption of sick pigs and dead pigs is causing public concern. Typically, the truck carrying 180 sick pigs and dead pigs was arrested in Ha Tinh on May 30, 2025, or the discovery of a truck carrying dead pigs to the slaughterhouse in Quang Tri on June 3, 2025.
Notably, on May 30, a social media account named Jonny Lieu (with 29,000 followers) posted a complaint against the violation at a branch of CP Livestock Joint Stock Company in My Xuyen (Soc Trang), claiming to have brought sick pigs to the market. The case has attracted great attention from the public and is currently being investigated by the Ministry of Public Security at the request of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment.
In that situation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has sent an official dispatch to the Chairmen of the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities requesting urgent direction to comprehensively rectify slaughter control, ensure food safety and prevent animal diseases.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, localities must strictly implement issued directives, including resolutions, directives and telegrams of the Central Government related to veterinary medicine, quarantine and slaughter.
In particular, it is required to strengthen inspections and surprise checks at slaughterhouses. Scattered areas for disease-prone pigs that do not have veterinary control or do not ensure veterinary hygiene and food safety must be strictly handled, and even suspended if not licensed.
The Ministry also requested the Departments of Agriculture and Environment to strictly implement Circular 09/2016/TT-BNNPTNT regulating slaughter control and veterinary hygiene inspection. At the same time, develop inter-sectoral coordination regulations between the government, veterinary, health, police, market management... to ensure effective supervision and handling of violations related to livestock and poultry meat.
At the same time, it is recommended that localities step up propaganda to raise awareness of compliance with legal regulations for organizations and individuals doing business, trading, slaughtering and processing animal products. Consumers also need to be vigilant, only choosing to buy foods of clear, controlled origin.
In addition, it is necessary to prioritize planning and developing a centralized slaughter network to meet the requirements of veterinary hygiene and food safety. Localities are encouraged to implement proactive monitoring programs for animal-based foods, contributing to improving quality and consumer confidence.
The drastic move from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has received much support. According to Dr. Nguyen Xuan Duong, Chairman of the Vietnam Livestock Association, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment's directive to rectify the management of slaughter activities and the slaughter control process to ensure disease safety and food safety is the right and necessary step.
"There are still many problems with slaughter across the country, so rectification is very necessary. Currently, our concentrated slaughter accounts for a very small proportion, only about the remaining 15% is mainly small-scale slaughter, manual slaughter accounts for 85%.
The small-scale, manual slaughter makes disease control and food hygiene and safety more difficult. Although we have full regulations on the Veterinary Law and slaughter procedures, almost only slaughterhouses have strictly implemented these procedures, while small, manual slaughterhouses still have many shortcomings," said Dr. Nguyen Xuan Duong.
