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

-
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 market
Traditional 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!