Animals Australia has included this photograph, taken inside a Vietnamese abattoir last month, in its complaint to the Department of Agriculture.

Australian cattle are being killed with sledgehammers in Vietnamese abattoirs, according to a complaint lodged with the federal agriculture department by an animal rights group.

Animals Australia lodged the complaint with the department last week, after documenting the brutal practices in Vietnam last month. The organisation's communications director Lisa Chalk said the footage of the cattle being killed was "so shocking and distressing" that the organisation had decided not to publicly release it at this time.

Chalk said Vietnam was currently the second largest export market for Australian cattle, with 178,000 animals exported there in 2014. She said cattle and buffalo were traditionally slaughtered in Vietnam with repeated blows to the head with a sledgehammer. Vision of Australian cattle being killed in this way was first brought to the attention of the agriculture department in June 2013 by a member of the public.

Chalk said Animals Australia had requested a meeting with the Australian Live Exporters' Council because it had no faith that the department would take appropriate action.

A spokesman for Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said there were three reviews underway into the use of sledgehammers in Vietnam, following reports from exporters in March this year.

The spokesman said the report from Animals Australia was being assessed to determine whether it related to any of the reviews already underway.

He said the department was seeking information from other exporters to determine whether there had been any further breaches of the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS), the system set up to ensure animals exported from Australia were treated humanely following the suspension of the live cattle trade to Indonesia in 2011 following revelations of cruelty.

"The Australian government takes the issue of animal welfare extremely seriously and we will continue to work with industry to ensure all ESCAS requirements are being met by Australian exporters," the spokesman said.

"The department has been closely monitoring the ESCAS system in Vietnam since March and is working with industry to ensure any problems are rectified and that the stringent animal welfare standards required are maintained.

"The Australian government remains totally committed to the live export trade, and when problems arise we deal with the specific problems – we don't shut down an entire industry."

Comment has been sought from the Australian Livestock Exporters' Council.