The truth about American beef priced at tens of thousands of dong
Many meat businesses said they were offered expired products at very cheap prices by importers.
Information about American beef belly imported into Vietnam priced at only 10,000 to several tens of thousands of VND per kilogram has been shared widely on social networks recently.
A Facebook account stated that when entering a buffet restaurant, the first waiter always brings out a full plate of Australian or American beef for customers. Some barbecue restaurants also organize cheap buffets for only 100,000 VND per person, with unlimited meat.
"Supermarkets sell pre-sliced American beef for 150,000 VND per kilogram. Have you ever wondered why the price of imported beef is so cheap?", this account asked, also saying that there was a time when he was in the restaurant business, and the importers offered this product for 70,000 VND per kilogram, sometimes only 50,000 VND.
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Beef at the market has many different colors. Photo:Thi Ha. |
A survey of the market in Ho Chi Minh City shows that many suppliers are selling imported "beef" at a cheap price of around 70,000 VND, only a quarter of the price of fresh beef sold on the market.
A beef supplier in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City openly advertises the price of imported meat at cheap prices, specializing in serving restaurants, eateries, industrial kitchens, and shipping to the provinces. The cheapest is beef brisket, shaped into balls, priced at 68,000 VND per kg; brisket, ribs, and neck are introduced for use in pho and Hue beef noodle soup, priced at only 90,000-95,000 VND per kg.
At the store on Binh Loi Street (Binh Thanh), imported beef tenderloin is only 108,000 VND per kg, lean rump is 105,000 VND, minced meat is 65,000 VND per kg... If you buy in large quantities, the price will drop even more.
Having been in the foreign beef business for a long time, the leader of an import-export company in Ho Chi Minh City said that once a beef import company offered to sell him 5 tons of expired meat at a very cheap price, much lower than Indian beef, but he did not agree.
“Before that, I was in the beef business and was often invited by importers with large profits. But after being offered 5 tons of expired meat, I decided to stop selling frozen beef because I found it difficult to trust importers,” he said, adding that in the market, the wholesale price of beef is 70,000 VND per kilogram, most of which is buffalo meat. Because the color of Indian buffalo meat is not much different from that of cows. Therefore, many restaurants buy it to process and label it as American or Australian beef. Only when diners are observant and can feel the taste can they discover what buffalo and beef are.
Talk toVnExpress, Mr. Pham Duc Binh, General Director of Thanh Binh Livestock Joint Stock Company said, it is very difficult to have cheap beef for only a few tens of thousands of dong. If there is, it can only be buffalo meat or pork soaked in chemicals because the price of live cows is 75,000-80,000 dong per kilogram. After slaughter, the meat ratio is only 55%, if it is Vietnamese cows, the ratio will be even lower, so the price of meat sold on the market after being butchered must be two or three times higher.
As a company specializing in importing cows for slaughter, Ms. Truong Thi Dong, Director of Trung Dong Company Limited (Dong Nai) also said that there is no beef priced at 10,000 VND on the market as rumored. As for the cheapest beef, it is 70,000 VND and the highest is 120,000 VND, butThese are goods of unknown origin, without invoices and documents, and it is difficult to ensure food safety. Because the company that her company imports whole cows to Vietnam costs 70,000-73,000 VND per kg of live weight. After slaughtering, if calculated, the general selling price is 180,000 VND per kg. If the good quality beef is cut, the price usually ranges from 150,000 VND to over 300,000 VND.
Mrs. Dong also said,Because of the proliferation of cheap goods and the mass importation of "bad" cows, many units importing whole cows have had to reduce their quantity due to the difficulty in competing. At her company, if in the period 2014-2016 the number of cows imported per year was several tens of thousands, then from 2017 until now it has decreased by 50%. "Previously, there were many units importing frozen cows suggesting selling poor quality goods, even expired ones, for 40,000 - 60,000 VND per kg, but I did not buy and was determined to only sell live cows imported for slaughter to ensure quality," Ms. Dong said.
While many units said there are still low quality cows, even expired ones, in the Vietnamese market, recently at a press conference,Mr. Dam Xuan Thanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Health (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) said that,All imported beef shipments from Australia and the US upon arrival in Vietnam are thoroughly inspected, with no shipments left behind. At the same time, businesses must label the products with full information on quantity, origin and type before selling them on the market.
In the opposite case, if the inspection process detects violating samples, they will be heavily fined and re-exported or destroyed if they affect human health. Up to nowRegarding Australian and American beef imported into Vietnam, no expired beef or beef of unclear origin has been detected. In case of detection, officials must re-export it.
According to the General Department of Customs, in the first two months of 2018, Vietnam imported beef from the US with a volume of 1,349 tons, worth 8.9 million USD; and from Australia with a volume of 948 tons, equivalent to 6.6 million USD.
Previously in 2017, Vietnam imported 210 tons of beef ribs, 3,901 tons of boneless beef, 6,085 tons from Australia and 6,085 tons of boneless beef, 353 tons of beef ribs from the US.