Products imported to the UK from a company at the centre of an African swine fever (ASF) scandal in Vietnam have been removed from sale by local authorities.
The incident, which was first reported in Pig World in February, has raised further concern about the robustness of the UK’s border controls, with Defra and the following Food Standards Agency monitoring seemingly oblivious to the presence of the products in the UK until a tip off from the meat sector.
Recent media reports in Vietnam revealed that the CEO of Ha Long Canned Food (Halong Canfoco) had been charged with ‘negligence causing serious consequences’, after it was discovered that the company had used ASF-infected pork in its canned pâté.
The case came to light last September, after the authorities detected two trucks transporting 1.2 tonnes of pork of unknown origin, which later tested positive for ASF, according to VN Express International.
Investigators found a further 130t of frozen diseased pork stored at the company’s warehouse. They said the company had made more than 1.7t of pâté, equivalent to about 14,000 cans, using contaminated raw materials on September 6 and 7.
Other products, including 4,000kg of spring rolls and 3,000kg of premium spring rolls, also tested positive for ASF, while investigators found 13,000kg of frozen pork skin and 8,000kg of frozen chicken skin that were contaminated with salmonella.
UK sales
It emerged in early February that products from the company had been on sale in the UK. A simple Google search Tony Goodger, the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers’ head of marketing & communications, showed, for example, that Ha Long canned pâté, pork liver paste and slices of pork were available in the UK via Huong Viet Asian Supermarket.
After being contacted by Pig World in early February, a spokesperson for the retailer said: “Since the news broke, we have removed all their products off our shelves and online.”
They said they learned about the case ‘via Vietnamese media, roughly three weeks ago’, mid-January, and decided to remove the products, as a result.
After discovering this, Mr Goodger immediately passed the information onto the FSA. Initially, an FSA spokesperson said the agency would share the information with relevant authorities and provide ‘appropriate follow-up action, if required’.
In an update, Darren Whitby, the agency’s head of incidents and resilience, said: “Through our robust monitoring and checks, we have identified a batch of meat which has raised concerns. We have worked with local authorities who have taken action to remove the product from sale.
“We will continue to monitor this situation closely. If we receive any information that may impact food safety in the UK, we will work with the relevant authorities to take action to protect consumers.”
However, neither the agency nor Defra, which declined to comment, were able to provide answers to a number of outstanding questions, including how much potentially infected product had come into the country, how many outlets had stocked it and whether import rules had been breached.
Concerning
Mr Goodger said it was concerning that the UK authorities appeared to have no prior knowledge of this potentially catastrophic situation.
“It appears that we are leaving the country’s biosecurity to chance,” Mr Goodger said. “It was fortunate that the store saw it on Vietnamese news and took proactive action to remove it from his shelves. And it was by pure luck that I spotted the issue.
“We need to be better, quicker, and smarter with biosecurity information. This highlights that the UK must have better surveillance and horizon scanning at local level in countries whose products may be exported to the UK. We need the British Embassy staff to report on incidents and a clear chain of communication back to the UK as an alert.”
NPA chief executive Lizzie Wilson described the incident as ‘hugely worrying’, especially given the authorities appear to have been ‘completely oblivious’ to its presence. She said the industry needed answers to the outstanding questions.