Rapid Integrated Assessment of food safety related to pork in Vietnam:

a consumer perspective

Hung Nguyen-Viet1, Nguyen Tien Thanh1, Dang Xuan Sinh1 Luu Quoc Toan1, Pham Van Hung2, Delia Grace3

1CENPHER, Hanoi School of Public Health, HSPH 2Hanoi University of Agriculture, HUA

3International Livestock Research Institute, ILRI

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Child Health Status

Child Nutritional (Growth) Status

Animals Owned

Labor Allocated to Livestock

Food Crop Production

HH Crop Consumption

Labor Demands on (Female) Caregiver

Food Crop Purchase

Food Crop sales

HH Income

ASF Purchase

Animals & Product sales

Traction; Nutrient Cycling; Fodder/feed Production

Animal Production

HH ASF Consumption

Level of Care/Feeding practices

Contact Zoonotic Pathogens

Access Health Inputs

Ingestion hazards

+

Participation ASF value chain

Loss of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Pathogen Regulation Services

Modified from Randolph et al., 2007

PIGS

AQUACULTURE

SHEEP & GOATS

DAIRY

Issues and objectives

• Pork contains high levels of pathogens, an issue of growing concern among the public, and policy makers alike.

• To respond to these concerns, rapid integrated assessment (RIA) tool was developed to assess food safety and zoonosis related to pork value chain and tested it in different countries.

• We conducted this RIA of food safety and zoonosis from a consumer perspective and with analysis of biological samples.

Meat expenditures in Vietnam

Pork accounts for 40% of meat expenditures by

Vietnamese household consumers.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Current 10% 20% 50% 100%

Fresh pork

Fish

Poultry

Beef

Seafood

Percentage of

consumer expenditure on meat

Projected percentage increase in consumer income

Preferred market outlets for fresh pork

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Hanoi HCMC Overall

Modern retail outlets Permanent open marketTraditional temporary outlet

Traditional market outlets remain the most

preferred purchase outlets for fresh pork

by Vietnamese consumers.

* Hung Yen: Population: 1.1 million

Literacy: 95.8% ; Below poverty: 7.1 (2008)

HDI rank: 24; GDP per capita: $1,986

* Nghe An: 3 million people

Literacy: 94%; Below poverty: 24.9 (2008)

HDI rank: 39; GDP per capita: $1,692

Study sites in Hung Yen and Nghe An province

Focus Group Discussions (FGD)

Regular pork consumers (18 FGDs*7

people)

Pregnant women or mothers of young

children (18 FGDs*7 people)

Information collection Sample collection

50 porks at markets

30 carcass swabs

50 porks at slaughterhouses

WHC (drip loss)

pH TBC and coliforms

ISO:4833 2003 and ISO: 4831-2006

Data analysis

Hung Yen and Nghe An provinces

PRA (FGD) and Biological sampling

Insights from FGD

• Pork is the main meat: eaten daily, represents

50-60% of total ASF consumption.

• Bought from the wet market and quickly

prepared, cooked and consumed.

• High trust in pork safety and quality and

rarely attributed health issues to pork

consumption.

• Raw pork is rarely eaten except for fermented

pork (nem chua).

Insights from FGD

• Main concerns: growth promoters, pork

refresher (chemicals used to make not fresh

pork appear fresh) as well as diseased pork.

• Little knowledge of zoonoses.

• Pork portions perceived as rich in nutrients

were used young children and special care

was given to their preparation, such as

cooking well or making into soup.

Acceptability: nutritious vs delicious pig parts

More delicious Less delicious

More

nutritious

Heart, loin, hock,

ham, spare ribs

Brain

Less nutritious Stomach, belly slice,

rib toast

Bones, skull, tail,

intestines, liver

How often do you buy these? • Two days out of three • One day out of three • One day a month • Less than one day a month

Microbial quality of swab and meat samples

Microbial quality of swab and meat samples in Hung Yen and Nghe An. (*): significant difference (T test, P=0.006) TBC and pH of pork were within the allowable range of standards of Vietnam whereas coliforms exceeded

*

Physico-chemical quality of swab and meat samples

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Hung Yen Nghe An

%

1h 4h 6h

pH variation by time of pork samples (T test, P > 0.05).

WHC variation of pork samples after 48h (T test, P > 0.05).

Within limits– but indicates some problems with excessive stress before slaughter

Conclusion

• Meat is a main animal food source in Vietnam and women are responsible for buying and preparing pork.

• Rapid assessment indicates relatively low risk from pork, in keeping with previous studies.

• Hung Yen slaughterhouses and markets seemed to have better hygienic conditions than Nghe An.

• While trust in pork quality was high, microbial and physico-chemical analyses suggest some problems. (Studies on chemical hazards are ongoing.)

• Consumer beliefs are not well aligned with evidence

Perspective: PigRISK – a food safety risk assessment project in Vietnam

PigRISK: Reducing disease risks and improving food safety in smallholder pig value chains in Vietnam

• To assess impacts of pork-borne diseases on human health and the livestock sector and identify critical points/opportunities for risk management

• To develop and test incentive-based innovations to improve management of human and animal health risks in smallholder pig value chains.

• To sustainably improve capacity to assess and manage risks in smallholder pig value chains by engaging stakeholders and co-generating evidence.

Thank you!