Vietnam Breaks Up Salbutamol Pork Ring After More Than 10,000 Tonnes Reach Market
Ho Chi Minh City police have dismantled a network accused of using banned Salbutamol to fatten pigs and distributing more than 10,000 tonnes of affected supply since January 2026. Nine people have been charged, while investigators are examining farms, slaughterhouses, traders and alleged quarantine-document fraud.
More than 10,000 tonnes entered southern markets
Ho Chi Minh City police have dismantled a livestock network accused of using the banned growth promoter Salbutamol and placing more than 10,000 tonnes of affected pigs into the market since January 2026. According to CafeBiz, the supply was worth more than VND600 billion and was sold in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Thap and other southern provinces and cities.
Tri Thuc VN reported that the pigs moved through wholesale and traditional markets, supermarkets and slaughterhouses before reaching households, schools, restaurants and industrial kitchens. Investigators estimated that hundreds of tonnes were entering consumption channels each day. The case therefore extends beyond individual farms to procurement, veterinary certification, slaughter and food-service controls.
Farm searches reveal the fattening process
The investigation began with inspections of three trucks in late July 2026. Authorities found 280 slaughter pigs positive for Salbutamol, including 80 that also tested positive for African swine fever virus. Subsequent searches covered 14 farms and residences in Dong Nai. At seven breeding and collection facilities, police found 3,909 Salbutamol-positive pigs weighing more than 500 tonnes in total; the animals were later destroyed under official procedures.
According to CafeBiz, operators bought pigs weighing about 100–110 kilograms and kept them for roughly 30 additional days until they reached 130–140 kilograms. Salbutamol was mixed into feed to increase weight and lean-meat yield. Tri Thuc VN reported a mixing ratio of 100 grams of Salbutamol per 300 kilograms of feed, with about 3 kilograms used for each batch of 100 pigs.
Investigators said treatment was stopped about 10 days before the pigs were sent for slaughter in an attempt to avoid detection. Some animals were also given liver-detoxification products or electrolytes. During the searches, police seized more than 1,000 kilograms of Salbutamol, an amount that CafeBiz said could have been mixed into more than 3,000 tonnes of animal feed using the network's method.
Supply source and certification are under investigation
Police identified Nguyễn Thị Trinh Nữ of Vinh Long as the alleged source of the substance. Investigators said she began promoting a product around mid-2025 that was presented as making pigs more muscular and increasing lean yield. The material was allegedly brought from Thailand and Cambodia at about VND375,000 per kilogram and supplied to livestock facilities.
The inquiry also covers alleged corruption in animal quarantine procedures. Police said Võ Quốc Sơn, an animal quarantine officer in Dong Nai, accepted money from trader Nguyễn Văn Hiệu to approve certificates without conducting physical inspections. Sơn allegedly supplied certificates and seals so that Hiệu could seal shipments himself. The group is also accused of using falsified origin documents in Ho Chi Minh City to move pigs from Dong Nai to city slaughterhouses without valid interprovincial quarantine certificates.
Nine defendants have been charged in a case covering four alleged offences: violations of food-safety regulations, trading in prohibited goods, giving bribes and receiving bribes. Seven face food-safety charges, one faces a prohibited-goods charge and one faces a bribery-receipt charge; Nguyễn Văn Hiệu also faces a charge of giving bribes. Salbutamol is prohibited in livestock feed in Vietnam, although it is regulated as a medicine for conditions including asthma and bronchospasm. Police said the investigation remains open and is examining other people and organizations involved in distributing the animals.
