HCM City (VNS/VNA)- HCM City’s programme for tracing the origin of poultry meat sold at retailoutlets kicked off on October 3, according to the HCM City Departmentof Industry and Trade.
Department officials have made site visits to some poultry farmsand slaughterhouses in Dong Thap, Long An and Dong Nai provinces toensure things are ready for the rollout.
Nguyen Huu Tri, quality management director of San Ha Foods Company, said thecompany is ready to supply traceable poultry meat, and in the initial stageswould supply around 20,000 chickens daily through the retail channel, includingits own stores.
Customers can use the QR Code decoding applications from Zalo orfrom www.te-food.com to scan the electronic stamp on packages.
The stamps will contain information about the poultry strain, breeding period,name of farm, feed, vaccination schedule, when slaughtered and others.
The traceable chickens were bred at the company’s farm in Binh Duong and otherfarms with which it collaborated in Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, TienGiang, and Long An provinces.
A month after traceable chicken eggs began to be sold, duck eggs are also setto join poultry meat in the programme today.
Truong Chi Thien, director of Vinh Thanh Dat Food Co Ltd, the only company tosupply origin-traceable duck eggs initially, said 50,000-60,000 eggs would besupplied daily through modern retail outlets.
The company is tying up with poultry farms in Dong Thap, Tien Giang and Can Thoto ensure a stable supply of products, he said.
Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Industry andTrade, said it is easier to trace the origins of poultry meat and eggs thanthat of pork because chicken farms are not small and scattered like pigfarms.
Once the programme stabilises, traceable poultry meat and eggs would also besold through traditional markets, he said.
The department has instructed each sales outlet to put up banners andinstruction boards and post staff to help customers with tracing the origin ofproducts, he said.
Thirty five farms supplying chicks, 431 selling chicken meat, 59 sellingchicken eggs, 13 slaughterhouses and meat packaging establishments, and nineegg packaging establishments have registered to join the programme.
Hoa said the programme managers would continue to study other poultry farms andpersuade those with a closed breeding process to sign up.-VNA