Inspectors of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that in addition to Salbutamol, this agency has just discovered another banned substance that also has the effect of creating lean meat in livestock farming.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Viet - Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the inspections of this agency in August discovered a new banned substance used in animal husbandry, Systeamine. This banned substance has the same lean meat-producing effect as the previous Salbutamol.

Systeamine is a prohormone that stimulates growth and lean meat production in livestock. This substance has been banned by the European Union for use in livestock farming. Vietnam has included this substance in the list of restricted use (according to the Law on Chemicals).

"The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development does not allow the import, trading and use of this active ingredient in livestock farming," the Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed.

In addition to Salbutamol, the agricultural inspection agency also discovered a new banned substance, Systeamine, being used as a lean meat enhancer in livestock farming.

However, through a surprise inspection, the Ministry Inspectorate discovered that the Innovation Technology Company Limited had imported raw materials and animal feed for Maxsure and Synergrow containing Systeamine at a concentration of 3% and committed a number of other violations. The Ministry Inspectorate imposed an administrative fine of VND197 million on the company and forced it to destroy the violating products according to regulations.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Viet, industrial chemicals have been discovered to be used in livestock farming such as Salbutamol, Vang O and now Systeamine... are chemicals used in industrial dyeing (dyeing fabric, paper...), imported mainly from China and sold openly at chemical wholesale markets.

“Because these are chemicals that are allowed to be circulated and used in industry, their sale and import is not wrong, but the violation here is that the buyer misused the purpose when using them for animal feed and food,” the chief inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture shared.

Currently, on the market, the price of one kilogram of industrial chemicals is only half the price of the same type of chemicals used to produce animal feed, or even only one-third.

“Using industrial chemicals to produce products used in livestock and aquaculture will cause heavy metal residues in animals and animal products,” Mr. Viet pointed out, emphasizing that using industrial chemicals to produce animal feed and products used in aquaculture is a dangerous act to public health and affects the export of the seafood industry.

In 2015, many shipments of Vietnamese seafood were returned by importing countries due to heavy metal residues.

According to VNE