Thailand and Vietnam meat seizures highlight deepening risk of unsafe food on the table

A flurry of meat seizures across Thailand and Vietnam has raised fears of animal-borne diseases devastating regional livestock populations and unsafe food ending up on consumers’ plates.

Driven by rising energy and logistics costs, unscrupulous suppliers have targeted restaurants and wet markets desperate to protect margins by sourcing cheap, unregulated cuts – even those past their expiry date or tainted with disease.

On October 21, police in Vietnam’s southern province of Dong Nai dismantled a syndicate accused of trafficking an estimated 400 tonnes of cut-price pigs infected with African swine fever to domestic buyers, including commercial spring roll makers. While harmless to humans, the virus is capable of decimating pig populations.

In Thailand, where porous borders with four neighbours meet a vast domestic food industry, authorities are facing a similar spike in smuggled meat and undocumented livestock parts.

Food safety inspectors found two trucks outside Bangkok on Wednesday carrying 26 tonnes of frozen chicken breast transported using forged permits. Originating from Pathum Thani, a province under surveillance for bird flu, the cargo was headed for Songkhla, near the Malaysian border.

Neighbouring Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar have also reported regular seizures of illicit and spoiled meat bound for domestic markets – highlighting a broader regional enforcement struggle across the Mekong basin.

But the problem extends beyond low-cost suppliers.

On October 25, customs officials at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport confiscated two tonnes of premium French meats – including wild boar meat, quail, pigeon, salted beef, salami and Parma ham – falsely declared as seafood.

“These products may carry infectious animal diseases and pose a risk to consumers,” said Sorawut Nueangchamrong, secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives and head of the Phra Phirun Joint Centre for Agricultural and Food Security.

Acting on an intelligence tip-off, authorities seized the shipment from an airport warehouse, noting the cuts were destined for high-end restaurants. Sorawut warned that foot-and-mouth disease, lumpy skin disease and African swine fever could devastate local herds, trigger mass culls and inflict lasting economic damage.

“Samples have been sent for laboratory testing, and the seized products have been impounded for destruction to prevent the potential spread of disease,” he said.

Illegal imports also undercut Thailand’s domestic farmers. The kingdom is among the world’s largest poultry exporters, while its multibillion-dollar swine industry continues to lobby Bangkok to keep out cheap, ractopamine-treated American pork during bilateral trade negotiations.

Demand for cheap meat is endless in Bangkok, where thousands of new restaurants open each year – frequently opened by those without a background in the food business and desperate to make a profit in the cutthroat industry.

“There’s fraud for sure in food all the time, but I doubt it ends up in hotels and fine dining restaurants. The risks of using mislabelled products are too high – there’s a lot to lose and nothing to gain by saving a few bucks,” said a chef who works with top-tier restaurants.

“The biggest concern is food safety,” he added, noting the low barriers to entry and lax point-of-sale provenance labelling made setting up a food business easy in Southeast Asia. “You’re not bound by anything like the laws in Europe where you have to get everything inspected before you can open a restaurant.”

Smuggled produce completely bypassed crucial safety checks for zoonotic diseases, heavy metals and chemical residues, said Dr Awanwee Petchkongkaew, co-founding director of the International Joint Research Centre on Food Security at Thammasat University.

“When you transport, meat should be stored in a cold chain. I’m not really sure when it is moved illegally that they can provide a safe temperature to contain food-borne contamination,” she said.

Thai authorities could not check every shipment given the volume, she added, noting that the main weakness lay in the “food traceability system” needed to ensure products reaching the table come from safe food sources and handling.