Slaughter of livestock at home poses a risk of disease

People arbitrarily build slaughterhouses

The slaughterhouse with a capacity of slaughtering 200 - 250 pigs/day and night located in Nghi Phu commune (Vinh city) has been exploited and used since 2013. However, due to severe pollution, in early March 2019, Vinh city closed this slaughterhouse to handle the environment.

At the dialogue meeting between Vinh city and households engaged in the slaughterhouse business, all households agreed to close the slaughterhouse; At the same time, the City People's Committee was requested to soon build a new slaughterhouse so that people could bring their livestock for centralized slaughter.

While waiting for the construction of the furnace, these slaughterhouses wanted the city to approve people to bring their cattle home to slaughter. This proposal was not approved because slaughtering at home would potentially cause environmental pollution and spread disease.

Some home slaughterhouses in Nghi Phu commune are very humid and unsanitary. Photo: Quang An

The city's policy is to encourage these households to go to Hung Chinh slaughterhouse to continue their business and be monitored and inspected by veterinary doctors daily. The city will increase the capacity of Hung Chinh slaughterhouse to meet demand, and will not allow households to slaughter at home.

Despite the city's policy, since the Nghi Phu slaughterhouse closed, according to the reporter's investigation, no households from Nghi Phu have gone to Hung Chinh slaughterhouse to practice their trade, but they slaughter livestock at home.

The family of Mr. Le Van H in Hamlet 5, Nghi Phu Commune is one of the households that have been involved in the pig slaughtering business for many years in the locality. After closing Nghi Phu slaughterhouse, he set up a slaughterhouse at home with a total investment of about 40 million VND.

Every day, Mr. H imports pigs from a farm in Nam Thai commune, Nam Dan district for slaughter. Mr. H shared: "During the closure of Nghi Phu slaughterhouse, we want to slaughter at home because it is convenient for travel. If we transport them to Hung Chinh slaughterhouse, it is too far, it is both time-consuming and affects the quality of the meat, especially when the pork market is sluggish like now. Before and after doing it, I clean the barn and the slaughter area, and the imported pigs also have clear quarantine papers."

Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Huu Ph in hamlet 13, Nghi Phu commune also brought the pig home to slaughter...

Pigs are brought to the home slaughterhouse of Mr. Le Van H's family in Hamlet 5, Nghi Phu Commune. Photo: Quang An

Resolutely handle illegal slaughter of livestock

Although households have been aware of environmental hygiene and African swine fever prevention, the prevention measures are still not thorough. Every day, these households do not spray disinfectant chemicals after each pig slaughter...

That increases the risk of disease outbreaks in general and African swine fever in particular for pigs raised in the city.

Mr. Vo Ba Duong - Veterinary officer of Nghi Phu commune said: These households import pigs and slaughter them daily, we also instruct them to clean regularly. For spraying disinfectants, spraying is done weekly, not daily because of high costs and there are not enough veterinary staff to do it. We have persuaded them to go to Hung Chinh slaughterhouse for daily veterinary inspection and to ensure the slaughtering but they do not agree.

Discussing this issue, Mr. Nguyen Quang Lam - Head of Vinh City Economic Department said: The city's consistent viewpoint is not to allow households to arbitrarily slaughter at home. We will set up an inspection team, if discovered, we will resolutely handle it according to regulations.

In the long term, after restoring the environment at Nghi Phu slaughterhouse and ensuring hygienic conditions for slaughtering activities, we will encourage them to return to their profession and strictly control it.

The new slaughterhouse area was built in Hamlet 5, Nghi Phu Commune (Vinh City). Photo: Quang An

According to Directive No. 07 of the Provincial People's Committee on African swine fever prevention, centralized and small-scale slaughterhouses at households, in addition to importing pigs of known origin, must also spray disinfectant chemicals before and after the end of the slaughter; clean up and sprinkle lime powder in the slaughterhouse area. District authorities are responsible for inspecting and controlling centralized slaughterhouses; Commune People's Committees inspect and control small-scale slaughterhouses in residential areas.