Vietnam Tightens Control Over Imported Pork

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has just announced it will closely monitor the domestic pig population, imported pigs and imported pork products, though swine flu has not been reported in Vietnam yet.

 

Speaking at a press conference in Hanoi on April 27, Vice Chief of the MARD’s Animal Health Department, Hoang Van Nam, said that the swine flu virus strain in humans discovered in Mexico and the US is completely new. According to the US Department of Agriculture, this new strain of H1N1 cannot be found in pigs.

 

“It means that there is no specific source of virus and the way it is transmitted from pigs to humans has not been determined yet,” Nam said.

 

The Veterinary Agency is compiling a dispatch on the situation of the pig herd in Vietnam and measures to monitor the pigs and slaughter houses. The control of imported pork products will be immediately tightened. Vietnam imports breeding pigs and pork from the US (around several thousand tons per year), one of the two countries in which the dangerous flu is spreading.

 

“Vietnam has never had swine flu, including swine flu strains that have hit the rest of the world in the past,” Nam announced.

 

The Veterinary Agency recommends that anybody who has contact with pigs should at least use safety outfits like masks and gloves. Consumers should only eat cooked quarantined pork and pork products.

 

The agency has instructed the Central Veterinary Diagnosis Centre, the Veterinary Bureau in HCM City to combine with the US Disease Control Centre and the Australian Veterinary Agency to implement on-the-spot tests of swine flu in Vietnam.

 

At present, Vietnam has to send samples for testing swine flu abroad. (Vietnamnet, Capital Security)