Ho Chi Minh City police, working with the Department of Agriculture and Environment, broke up a ring that used the banned substance Salbutamol to fatten pigs; the information was released on Oct. 5 (VTV, VietnamPlus, Dân tộc và Phát triển, An ninh Thủ đô, TTBC TP.HCM). Since January 2026 the ring sold more than 10,000 tonnes of meat, worth over VND 600 billion, consumed in Ho Chi Minh City and many southern provinces. Investigators opened criminal proceedings against nine suspects and put them in temporary detention on charges of violating food safety regulations, trading in banned goods, giving bribes and taking bribes. The method, according to police: mixing 100 grams of Salbutamol with about 300 kg of feed for 100 animals; before shipping out, stopping the banned substance and giving liver detox medicine and electrolytes to get past tests. Some quarantine inspectors are alleged to have taken money and issued bogus certificates. The figures of 10,000 tonnes and VND 600 billion come from the police.
The case touches the trust of people who buy meat and points to possible gaps in quarantine checks. VTV ran a separate piece on management gaps after the case.
Buy meat with a clear origin, a quarantine stamp and a receipt. You cannot spot a banned substance with the naked eye; real control has to happen at the farm and quarantine stages.
The bust and prosecution show the authorities can detect and deal with large rings, including alleged bribe-taking.
A figure of more than 10,000 tonnes over nine months shows the banned substance slipped through the inspection system for a long time; the question is why it was not caught sooner.
The biggest story is not the number but quarantine. What to watch: the outcome of the investigation into those alleged to have taken bribes, and whether inspections at slaughterhouses and farms are tightened, rather than just one case being handled.
VTV, VietnamPlus, Dân tộc và Phát triển, An ninh Thủ đô, Cổng thông tin báo chí TP.HCM (Oct. 5-6, 2026)
Ho Chi Minh City police bust a ring that sold more than 10,000 tonnes of pork tainted with a banned substance, worth over VND 600 billion
Nine suspects have been arrested and detained; some quarantine inspectors are alleged to have taken money to issue bogus certificates, according to police information relayed by the press.
Ho Chi Minh City police announced on Oct. 5 that they had broken up a ring that used the banned substance Salbutamol to fatten pigs and then put more than 10,000 tonnes of meat on the market, worth an estimated VND 600 billion or more, according to VTV, VietnamPlus, Dân tộc và Phát triển and An ninh Thủ đô. Investigators opened criminal proceedings against nine suspects and put them in temporary detention on charges related to food safety, trading in banned goods, and giving and taking bribes.
According to police, farm owners mixed Salbutamol into feed, then stopped giving the banned substance and gave the pigs liver detox medicine or electrolytes before shipping them out, in order to get past tests. The meat was sold in Ho Chi Minh City and many southern provinces from January 2026. Some quarantine inspectors are alleged to have taken money and issued bogus certificates so that the violating meat could keep being transported. These are allegations by the investigating agency, not a court’s conclusion; police said they will continue to widen the investigation.