VietNamNet Bridge – City authorities will strictly inspect large food processing plants, wholesale markets, supermarkets and shopping malls, besides small street vendors to prevent food poisoning during the Tet holiday and festivals.

Veterinary staffs inspect at a slaughter house in Hai Duong Province. Authorities will inspect food processing plants, wholesale markets, supermarkets and shopping malls as well as small street vendors to prevent food poisoning during the Tet holiday and festivals. — Photo: VNA/VNS

The Ha Noi People's Committee will uniformly implement all necessary measures to curb unhygienic food and food of unknown origins for the next three months, starting from yesterday.

The inspections will focus on facilities producing, processing and trading products that are mainly used during the Tet holiday and festivals, such as meat and meat products, beverages, alcoholic drinks and confectionary.

The committee will organise six teams to inspect food safety and hygiene at large production plants and service facilities, whereas districts will establish inspection teams to check small facilities.

Tran Xuan Ha, deputy head of the Ha Noi People's Committee's Popularisation and Education Committee, said the sanctions on those violating regulations on selling of unhygienic food must be upgraded to prevent any recurrence.

"Along with inspections and sanctions, all facilities that violate regulations and their locations must be made public to the media, especially those importing unhygienic food, expired food or food without stamps. Once every measure is implemented, the law breakers will stop their violations," Ha said.

The Ha Noi Industry and Trade Department (ITD) said it would co-operate with people's committees at grassroots levels to organise training courses in localities for local food safety officials and boost awareness about food safety and hygiene.

However, food safety and hygiene in the capital is still a serious issue, with unsafe meat and vegetables being sold in wholesale markets, supermarkets, shopping malls and flea markets, Tin Tuc (News) reported. A majority of the consumers continues to buy cheap food without considering quality and the expiry date. Some are deeply concerned following media reports.

Therefore, ITD will co-operate with the Agricultural and Rural Development Department to establish a pilot project to manage facilities that produce hygienic vegetables and meat in Ha Noi, in order to improve the situation and protect consumer rights and community health.

HCM City's efforts

Meanwhile, HCM City will intensify checks of food production and trading establishments from now through February 22 to safeguard public health during New Year and Tet (Lunar New Year), according to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, Nguyen Thi Le Thoa, head of the city's Plant Protection Department's food hygiene and safety management division, said inspectors would increase the number of pork and chicken samples they take to test for salbutamol, VAT Yellow, and Salmonella.

Establishments producing, processing or trading animal-based products found violating food hygiene and safety regulations would be severely punished.

The Plant Protection Department and other agencies would also keep a close on the use of plant protection drugs at vegetable growing areas.

They would obtain newly harvested vegetable samples from farmers as well as processing and packaging establishments and trading establishments (three wholesale markets, supermarkets and food shops) to check for residues of plant protection drugs.

The city Veterinary Department would collaborate with wholesale markets to test for chemical residues and banned antibiotics in seafood and seafood products, especially sugpo prawn, white-leg shrimp, saltwater and freshwater fish, cuttlefish, fish paste, and dried fish and shrimp.

HCM City would co-operate with seven other cities and provinces to inspect establishments supplying it food.

Da Nang wants to tighten food safety measures

Factors such as poor equipment and measures and poor co-ordination among agencies, besides ambiguous links with food suppliers have prevented the central city from maintaining tight control on food safety.

A report showed that 80 per cent of the vegetables being supplied came from six local suppliers in the central region, but the city's agencies could test the produce of only two of these for the presence of pesticides.

The city officials warned the departments of heath, agriculture and rural development, industry and trade and environment police, saying that stricter measures were needed to implement long-term examinations and checks on food quality at super markets, wholesale markets, slaughter houses and suppliers.

Although the agencies reported only one food poisoning case with nine victims in 2015, and more than 93 per cent of 1,000 samples cleared the tests for microbiological and chemical indexes, consumers still have doubts about poor hygiene, contamination and the use of banned agents in food production.

"Stricter examinations and prolonged control must be conducted by different agencies from this month, when the demand of goods and food peaks," Vice-Chairman of the city's people's committee Dang Viet Dung said.

"All super markets in the city have to commit to provide safe food of good quality from reliable and tested suppliers. They (suppliers and processing centres) should be warned that intentional use of toxic and banned agents in food processing is considered as murder," Dung said at a meeting on food safety control.

He said the city has asked the agriculture and rural development department to prepare a project on food safety control that helps to plan safe food supply chains from farms to restaurants.

He asked agencies to remove all street markets and restaurants with poor hygiene to eliminate the risk of food poisoning.

The city has only two centres to test contaminated and banned agents in food samples, and it takes at least a month to release the test result, which costs VND2 million to VND4 million (US$95-$190) each.

Colonel Tran Thanh Nhon, head of the environment police office, said the police force detected 18 violations related to food safety, but the highest fine imposed in the most serious case was VND10 million (US$476).

He said unhygienic food could lead to illnesses or related diseases in millions of people, not only in Da Nang, but other provinces.

The city had allocated 70ha for vegetable farms with VietGap (Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices) standards, but they could meet only five per cent of the city's demand, while the seafood supply met 30 per cent of total market demand.

The city of one million people consumes 70,000 tonnes of seafood and 80,000 tonnes of vegetables each year.

The city is yet to build food chains with suppliers in neighbouring areas in Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Gia Lai and Kon Tum, besides Lam Dong.

Most of the farm products in Da Nang City's supermarkets are from Lam Dong Province, but it is rare for them to have certificates of origin. Consumers are confused as to how to recognise safe food and suppliers.

VNS