HANOI: US frozen chicken was certified as meeting food safety standards of the United States Department of Agriculture before its export to Viet Nam, the agriculture and rural development ministry said.
In a written statement sent to the press, the ministry’s department of animal health said in the first seven months of this year, more than 45,600 tonnes of frozen chicken, 97 per cent of them being chicken thighs, entered Viet Nam through the HCM City border gate and Hai Phong port.
Samples were taken from all batches of imported chicken products for testing, with only one batch of 749kg of breaded chicken found to be contaminated with Salmonella bacterium, which was then destroyed.
In July, 35 samples of US chicken products were tested, and 17 samples were found to contain some antibiotics, but well within the permissible levels.
Regarding the temporary import and re-export of meat, the department said all activities in this field were conducted in the northern provinces via Hai Phong and Cai Lan ports. The department said goods must be sealed off in refrigerated containers, put under strict supervision of the relevant authorities and then re-exported through border gates in the north.
The department said it would continue to keep close control on meat imports. On May 1 this year, Viet Nam temporarily halted the import of live poultry and unprocessed poultry products from 13 American states where bird flu outbreaks had been reported. The United States Department of Agriculture also announced it would not issue quarantine certificates for poultry from the bird flu-affected states.
