Inspections have found Vinafood storing eight tons of expired and possibly rotten pig liver alongside other products for nearly a year after the company was ordered to destroy it, authorities reported April 19.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment in the southern province of Binh Duong said the 594 packages of liver had been discovered at the Song Than Industrial Zone last July when it was already a year past its expiry date.
The department had ordered Vinafood to destroy the liver by March 30, 2010, but the company has so far failed to comply, department deputy director Vo Thi Ngoc Hanh Hanh said.
A Vinafood representative defended the company’s actions by saying that the company would suffer financial losses by destroying the meat.
News that the expired meat was still stored alongside other products being distributed to the market has caused concern and alarm among local consumers.
Hanh said Vinafood had yet to reply to inquiries about its plans to destroy the liver.
