A worker with pigs at a livestock breeding centre in the central province of Phu Yen. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development has officially issued a circular to prohibit the use ofcysteamine - a substance used in animal husbandry, Hoang Thanh Van, headof the ministry’s Animal Husbandry Department said.
The circular will come into effect on March, 1, Van said, addingthat cysteamine would be added to the list of banned substances which includessalbutamol and vat yellow - an imported substance that is used for dyeing clothor in the construction sector - in Vietnam.
“Violations relating to the trade and production of prohibitedsubstances will be fined severely under Government law,” he said.
“In the future, if individuals, organisations or companies arefound to be involved in the trade of cysteamine, they will be punished underthe provisions of Decree 119 on administrative penalties in the fields ofanimal husbandry and feeds.”
The ministry has set up five laboratories that are qualified totest for cysteamine, so animal husbandry companies or health inspectorscan take suspected samples for testing.
Nguyen Thu Thuy, deputy head of the Animal Husbandry Departmentsaid the department was also banning the import of cysteamine.
At a meeting in late 2016, Hoang Thanh Van confirmed thatcysteamine is a new substance, and adding it to feed could improve the levelsof growth hormones, promote the growth performance of the animal and lead tothe creation of lean meat.
There was no study yet proving the effectiveness or harmfuleffects of this product in breeding, Van said.
However, he added that the department’s inspectors had discoveredsome animal husbandry farms were abusing this substance.
Following consultations with scientists, breeding experts andmanagement agencies, the ministry had officially proposed a circular on banningthe use of cysteamine in feed production, the head of the department said.
Vietnamese inspectors had found that some feed products importedfrom Thailand contained cystaemine.
They also found antibiotics being misused at many animal feedproduction plants and pig and poultry farms.
Last August, the ministry’s inspector team examined and discoveredan one-member limited liability company at Tran Quoc Hoan Street of HCM City’sTan Binh district that imported two animal feeding products, Maxsure andSynergrown containing cystaemine from Thailand.
A large number of products were sold to animal feed dealers, feedproduction plants and pig farms nation-wide.
Inspectors fined the company 180 million VND (8,000 USD) forimporting and trading substances that were not on the ministry’s licensed list.-VNA
VNA
