Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Many enterprises have started moving to thechilled meat sector, as it is expected to become a new consumer trend in thefuture domestically, according to experts.

Masan Group has built a meat processing complex in Ha Nam province with totalinvestment of more than 1 trillion VND (43.2 USD), with capacity of 1.4 millionpigs per year, equivalent to 140,000 tonnes of chilled meat.

Vietnamese people’s meat consumption habits will change so if there are goodand safe products with competitive prices, they will buy, Matthys van der Lely, Masan Nutri-Science Corporation(MNS)’s managing director of meat business, was quoted by Phap luat thanh phoHo Chi Minh (HCM City Law) newspaper as saying.

Meanwhile, a hi-tech pig slaughterhousemeeting international standards and run by Bien Dong DHS was inaugurated in thenorthern province of Nam Dinh last year with capacity of 300 pigs per hour.

Vissan has also started to develop chilled meat production.

Nguyen Xuan Cuong, minister of agriculture and rural development, said thedevelopment of chilled meat processing factories is a big change for Vietnam’s meatindustry because chilled meat is not popular on the domestic market.

Therefore, Cuong said Vietnam recently issued a national standard for chilledproduction and trading, aiming to ensure food safety and hygiene for porkproducts that are consumed on the domestic market and exported.

"Chilled meat processing is part in the process of converting productionfrom small scale to industrial processing scale with chain management, producttraceability and meeting export criteria," he said.

Agricultural expert Vo Tong Xuan said production of chilled meat was one way tobetter ensure food safety and export pork. That would help the domesticlivestock sector not fall into stagnation as has happened over the years.However, time and communications campaigns are needed to change consumers’habit of using warm meat, Xuan said.

In addition, price is also an obstacle because at present, the selling price ofchilled meat in supermarkets and shops is still 20-30 percent higher than warmmeat from markets, according to experts.

The product needs a reasonable price to encourage local consumers to buy more.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), porkproduction reached 3.8 million tonnes in 2018, up 2.2 percent year on year.

Most Vietnamese pork is used for domestic consumption while export volume isvery small.

Now, Vietnam is the seventh largest producer of pork in the world, after China,the US, Germany, Spain, Brazil and Russia.

The Vietnamese market is dominated by fresh meat, or warm meat, which is soldsoon after slaughter without cold storage. Fresh pork does not require largeinvestment in storage and is preferred by local consumers even though it is thetype of meat most likely to be sold without preservation and from an unknownsource.

The MARD estimates that up to 90 percent of pork sold on the domestic market iswarm pork.

In contrast to warm pork, chilled meat is frozen at minus 18 degreesCelsius and preserved for a long time before sale. However, this kind of foodrequires consumers to have knowledge to prepare it, especially the rightdefrosting technique to ensure quality.-VNS/VNA