Destroy all animal feed containing prohibited substances.

The positive result for the banned substance Salbutamol can confirm with certainty that the batch of 8,100 kg of animal feed of LIVABIN Company contains a banned substance./ The manufacturer of 8 tons of animal feed suspected of containing a banned substance that causes cancer is irresponsible?

Number of animal feed sealed at Sao Khue Trading Joint Stock Company

Yesterday (August 10), two animal feed samples sent by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa province to Hanoi for analysis tested positive for the banned substance Salbutamol (1.2 mg/kg and 0.8 mg/kg). Thus, it can be confirmed that the 8,100 kg animal feed shipment of LIVABIN Company contained the banned substance.

At the meeting with the Department of Livestock, Mr. Le Nhu Tuan, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa province, said: After this unit organized the sealing of the entire shipment containing banned substances, it received many phone calls to intervene, but with the motto of "acting resolutely", the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa province had a direct meeting with LIVABIN Company, determined to set up a council to peel off the samples and send them to a second unit for testing. If the second analysis results are not different from the first, they will definitely be strictly handled.

As for LIVABIN Company (Trung Trac Commune, Van Lam District, Hung Yen Province), the most worrying issue at present is that in addition to the 9,840 kg of animal feed sold (of which 8,100 kg were sold in Thanh Hoa), they are still waiting for the results of the analysis of the samples taken by the Department of Animal Husbandry from the 34 tons of animal feed at the company's warehouse. If the results continue to be positive, this is certainly an extremely serious violation.

According to Mr. Tuan, at this meeting, the representative of LIVABIN Company admitted that the banned substance may be among the additives they imported from China (?).

Specifically, out of 100 animal feed samples including 61 concentrated samples and 39 mixed samples, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa province has filtered and selected 6 samples (mainly feed for final stage pigs) to send to Hanoi for analysis of 2 indicators Salbutamol and Clenbuterol. The results of both samples of LIVABIN Company were positive.

The first sample belongs to the batch coded P104, produced on May 31, 2014, batch number 024106, taken at Sao Khue Trading Company (Dong Hoang commune, Dong Son district). The second sample coded P104, produced on June 7, 2014, batch number 134106, taken at Tran Thi Mai business household, Cau Rong village, Thanh Tho commune, Thach Thanh district.

The representative of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa province also concluded that: The fact that both samples tested positive for the banned substance Salbutamol were from LIVABIN Company proves that this company intentionally put the banned substance into animal feed products, because with such a high content, it could not have been accidentally present in the products without the company knowing.

On the other hand, LIVABIN's practice of putting banned substances into its animal feed products is also very sophisticated. Without coordinated information sources, it is very difficult for the authorities in the agriculture and rural development sector to detect, almost impossible to find.

Immediately after discovering that LIVABIN shipments contained banned substances, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa province sent an official dispatch to LIVABIN Company and Sao Khue Company, requesting the recall of all 8 tons of animal feed previously sold and sealing them on the spot.

Pursuant to Decree 119/2013/ND-CP and Circular 66/2011/TT-BNNPTNT, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa will draw up a record of administrative violations and request the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province to issue a decision on penalties. The fine may range from 70-100 million VND.

In addition, for the act of intentionally adding banned substances to animal feed products, LIVABIN may be subject to additional penalties. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa province will send an official dispatch to the Department of Livestock Production and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hung Yen province requesting the suspension of LIVABIN's production activities for 1-3 months. Dong Son and Thach Thanh districts are assigned to suspend two business establishments found to have animal feed products containing banned substances for 1-3 months.

To remedy the consequences, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa province will also issue a decision to destroy and direct the destruction of all violating animal feed (8,100 kg).

Thanh Hoa is one of 6 localities selected as key areas for animal feed inspection, along with Hanoi, Hung Yen, Dong Nai, Ho Chi Minh City and Vinh Long.

The inspection campaign was carried out very strictly, however, according to many opinions, checking for banned substances in animal feed is no different from catching drugs. In the coming time, Thanh Hoa will continue to collect about 50 animal feed samples from a number of locations such as factories, businesses that have had violations, some large-scale pig farms, some types of animal feed with suspicion...

Mr. Le Nhu Tuan affirmed: “There are certainly many provinces that are using animal feed containing banned substances, but why is it that only Thanh Hoa has detected and sealed it? The situation of using banned substances in animal feed is becoming more and more sophisticated. If we do not coordinate and take advantage of information sources, it will be very difficult.”

In addition to inspection, handling violations is also a difficult issue. Representatives of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa province requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Department of Livestock Production to complete more state management documents on animal feed to ensure both scientific and practical aspects.

Specifically, in the case of 8.1 tons of animal feed found to contain banned substances, if according to Decree 119, only the violating business establishments are handled while the production establishments located in other provinces are not handled, it is not satisfactory. Regarding this issue, the representative of Sao Khue Trading Joint Stock Company, the supplier of LIVABIN's products, complained: Regarding the legal contract between us and LIVABIN, it was signed very strictly, trading in official goods, not floating goods, without origin. We have no basis to know whether animal feed contains banned substances or not, except for the commitment with LIVABIN. Therefore, when the incident happened, we also suffered great losses. We do not know the level of punishment, but it will greatly affect the reputation of the company.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong, Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry, affirmed: The implementation by localities according to the content of Official Dispatch No. 825 dated July 23, 2014 of the Department of Animal Husbandry on strengthening the inspection of animal feed must be urgent and continuous, not necessarily in a campaign. This is not only a problem of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, of the provinces, but requires the coordination of inter-sectoral agencies, and even information from the people. When detecting violations, samples must be sent for testing immediately and a response must be received within 24 to 48 hours. In addition to the initial testing results, localities must send samples for testing to 2 more units among the 8 laboratories designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Not only testing animal feed alone, but also testing urine samples from pigs and meat in the market, and checking small, remote facilities and slaughterhouses can be increased. Localities need to actively inspect and classify manufacturing plants and report to Minister Cao Duc Phat in August.

According to NNVN