Food safety officials in Ho Chi Minh City have urged locals to stop eating dog meat in an effort to improve the national image, an official on Monday said.
“This is advice, it’s not an order, so we haven’t introduced any fines,” Phan Thi Hoai Tran, head of communications at Ho Chi Minh City’s Food Safety Management Board, said.
Eating dog meat is not uncommon in Vietnam, yet while it is not illegal to eat dogs, the meat has never been formally included on the list of animals suitable for humans as a food, the watchdog claims.
Health risks associated with eating the meat include parasites that can affect internal organs, while chemicals found in poisons used to kill the dogs also threaten consumers, Associate Prof. Pham Khanh Phong-Lan, head of the board, told local media. Read more
