Due to the increasing spread of African swine fever, a number of schools in Hanoi have placed a temporary ban on serving pork to students.
The African swine fever virus has spread to seven localities including Thanh Hoa, Hung Yen, Ha Nam, Thai Binh, Hai Phong, Hai Duong and Hanoi.
This has caused concern among parents of students attending a number of Hanoi schools, resulting in a response from som educational institutions, Dan Tri reports.
Vinschool announced that they will use fish, eels, beef or shrimp instead of pork in their nursery school, while their primary and secondary schools also announced that they will no longer serve pork. Mimi Nursery School, meanwhile, issued a statement about pork being taken off their lunch menu.
"Even though our supplier had made a commitment with us about the pork quality, we still decided to stop using pork in children's meals as a safety measure to ensure the children's health and as an assurance for the parents," the notice from Mimi Nursery School stated.
The moves come despite reassurance from officials that there is little risk to humans. Senior Technical Coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Disease in Vietnam Pawin Padungtod has previously stated that the public should not be concerned about health risks as the disease cannot be transmitted from swine to humans and will not affect cooked meat.
The outbreak recently hit northern Vietnam’s port city of Hai Phong, leading to the deaths of 35 pigs on one farm alone. Local authorities buried the dead pigs and disinfected the area.
In response to the issue, some travel destinations, including Taiwan, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, Dubai and the United States, have placed a ban on all pork products coming from Vietnam.
