A slaughterhouse in Hà Đông District of Hà Nội. Local authorities are striving to reduce the number of small slaughterhouses in the city to 30 per cent. — Photo Zing.vn

HÀ NỘI — The city authorities plan to reduce the number of small non-mechanised slaughterhouses to 30 per cent of the total number of slaughterhouses during the 2016-20 period.

The whole city currently has more than 2,400 small slaughterhouses, accounting for over 55 per cent, with a total capacity of 396 tonnes of meat per day.

Deputy director of the municipal Department of Animal Health Nguyễn Ngọc Sơn said small slaughterhouses were scattered among the residential areas and often failed to meet food hygiene and safety requirements.

Besides this, wastewater from these slaughterhouses also pollute the environment, affecting the living conditions of surrounding households, he said.

The municipal Department of Industry and Trade estimated that the city’s residents consumed an average of 872.2 tonnes of meat per day.

To achieve the set target, Hà Nội should adopt measures to mobilise different sources that attract investments for building industrial slaughterhouses that meet food hygiene and safety standards and should have policies to encourage industrial slaughterhouses to operate more efficiently, Sơn said.

The local authorities instructed the concerned agencies to gradually suspend the operations of small slaughterhouses that do not meet food safety and hygiene requirements, tighten control over veterinary and environmental hygiene and food safety in small slaughterhouses and to strictly deal with violations as per the law.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development late last year asked provinces and cities to deal strictly with slaughterhouses that do not obey food hygiene and safety regulations and to adopt policies to upgrade qualified slaughterhouses or to provide support for their development plans.

Hà Nội has the largest number of cattle and poultry in the country, amounting to 1.3 million pigs, 23.2 million poultry and 170,000 buffaloes and cows. - VNS