Animal feed producers must have investment certificates, enterprise registration certificates or business household certificates, otherwise they would be eliminated from the business.
Such requirement is set in a draft decree recently released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) for public comments.
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| Workers at an animal feed mill in Dong Nai province__Photo: Internet |
The draft also stipulates that animal feed mills must be located in specific areas reserved for use as animal feed production site. Those located outside these areas must seek approval from competent authorities. In addition, animal feed production facilities would also be kept at a safe distance from hazardous waste, pollutants or other harmful elements.
In order to prevent cross contamination, only one-way chains would be allowed for animal feed production. This condition would apply to all stages of production, from processing raw materials to making finished products. Animal feed producers must also have suitable systems of waste collection and treatment to prevent product contamination and environmental pollution. Besides, they must be equipped with production chains suitable to each type of product and install quality-control systems and lab to test the quality of their products.
Noteworthily, the draft paper sets out provisions on dealing with the use of banned chemicals, antibiotics and weight gainers in animal feed production, saying that if detected to break the rules, producers would be forced to shut down.
“These regulations are quite strict. If approved, they may drive hundreds of small producers that are poorly equipped out of the market,” said Le Ba Lich, chairman of the Vietnam Animal Feed Association.
“Hopefully, the decree would help eradicate enterprises that operate illegally or use banned substances in production,” Lich added.
Vietnam now has 209 animal feed mills, including 65 foreign-invested companies and 145 local firms.- (VLLF)
