Stabilizing food sources for the year-end market
Mr. Pham Kim Dang - Deputy Director of the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment - said that solutions have been and are being implemented synchronously, from disease control, slaughtering to monitoring the circulation of animal products on the market.
According to Mr. Dang, 2025 is a difficult year for the livestock industry when it is simultaneously affected by epidemics, especially African swine fever, and natural disasters caused by storms and floods. Currently, African swine fever is basically controlled, and livestock herds are gradually being restored in areas affected by natural disasters.
With the current total herd, especially pigs and poultry - two key livestock supplying food for domestic consumption, Mr. Dang affirmed that supply is guaranteed for the first months of 2026. Ensuring supply is not only a matter of quantity but also closely linked to quality and food safety.
Regarding the detection of the situation of buying and selling African swine fever infected pigs in some localities in recent times, representatives of the Department of Livestock and Animal Health said that this is a complex issue, originating from both subjective and objective causes. There are cases where sellers or buyers do not know that the pig has been infected, besides, there are also situations arising during vaccination and testing.
For example, if inappropriate testing methods are used, the results may be confused with a positive case due to African swine fever virus, while in reality it is a post-vaccination reaction. To avoid misdiagnosis, the Department has issued professional guidelines to clarify the origin of test signals, helping local veterinary authorities distinguish between real infection cases and post-vaccination biological reactions.
The Department has issued a document requesting localities to continue to maintain the commune-level veterinary system or arrange and use appropriate human resources to implement disease surveillance and control, slaughter control and food safety and hygiene from now until Tet, in order to minimize the risk of sick pigs being put on the market for consumption.
Strict application of biosecurity
In addition to focusing on the peak period at the end of the year, the livestock industry is aiming for fundamental and sustainable solutions. Practical experience shows that biosecurity is still the most important "barrier" to control African swine fever. Over the past time, epidemics have mainly occurred in small-scale farms, while large farms and corporations applying strict biosecurity are almost not affected.
Regarding vaccines, due to the emergence of new strains and variants, the effectiveness of vaccines today is only suitable for certain cases. Therefore, in addition to using vaccines according to guidelines, the industry encourages research institutions to continue to develop vaccines that are more effective for new strains, and at the same time does not consider vaccines as the only solution.
At the same time, the sector is directing the conversion of livestock in key areas in the direction of forming concentrated livestock areas, ensuring biosafety conditions, necessary isolation and disease control. The new approach does not only stop at certifying disease-free zones according to administrative boundaries, but also shifts to "chain" control from production, animal husbandry, slaughtering to final food products.
