To enhance food safety monitoring activities

Using safe and good-quality food is a necessity and is a legitimate requirement of all people. Therefore, the issue of food safety and hygiene always concerns the Party, the State, the whole society, and attracts the participation of the whole political system. In recent days, inter-sectorial and specialized inspection delegations conducted inspections on food safety in the province.

Specialized inspection squad of Provincial Food Safety and Hygiene Bureau at the collective kitchen of URC Vietnam Company.

A topic of interest

Implementing the direction of ministries and central agencies, in recent time, authorities in the province have resolutely implemented many solutions to ensure food safety. Communication work has also been boosted to strengthening consumer confidence. Violations of food safety regulations were announced in the media so consumers were informed and be careful when choosing foods. However, according to Provincial Food Safety and Hygiene Steering Committee, in some localities, violations of food safety and hygiene are quite common. The use of banned substances in food production and trading is still happening in many places. In the market, a large number of foods of unknown origins continue to be sold. Livestock conditions, market infrastructure, food service establishments, slaughtering facilities still have limitations. Producing and trading in small foodstuffs with uncontrolled safety still accounts for a large proportion. The situation of food poisoning and foodborne diseases continues...

One of the main reasons is that the awareness of the compliance with food safety regulations of food producers and traders is not high. Due to poor awareness, profitability and deliberate violation of some organizations and individuals, unsafe food has affected the health of consumers. Therefore, the theme of the Action Month for Food Safety in 2018 was selected by the steering committee is "Heightening the accountability of food producers and traders" to heighten the role and responsibility of businesses in enforcement of food safety and hygiene regulations.

Strengthening supervision

Food safety inspection, monitoring and supervision are performed regularly during the year, the peak is in the action month. At the provincial level, sectors of health, industry and trade, agriculture and rural development are the three key actors in this work. In addition to the inter-sectorial inspection, each branch set up specialized inspection teams to inspect food safety assurance at establishments and enterprises engaged in the production and trading of food items managed by their respective branches.

Tran Minh Hoang, Deputy Head of Provincial Food Safety and Hygiene Bureau, said that in this action month, their unit established two inspection squads for food safety and hygiene. It is expected that, from May 8 to June 8, the two squads will inspect the compliance of food safety and hygiene regulations at businesses according to laws and propose treatments to cases according to Decree 178/2013 / ND-CP of the Government. Following the inspection team in recent days, we found that the compliance with legal regulations on food safety and hygiene of big enterprises had been implemented well.

At URC Vietnam (Singapore IP), the delegation checked the company's legal papers, employee health records, collective kitchens, sent samples of 6 products for testing. Huynh Tan Cuc, Deputy Head of inspectorate of Provincial Food Safety and Hygiene Bureau, said that inspections in the past few days showed that large enterprises employed closed and modern production lines, thus the assurance of food safety and hygiene conditions was good. "At each location, we sent food samples for testing. Because test results have not arrived yet, it is not possible to conclude whether the quality of products meets standards or not”, Mr. Cuc said.

Through inspections, some enterprises also encountered a number of limitations, such as cooking area in collective kitchen of some enterprises was too small, lacked some utensils for hygiene process, storing samples was not in accordance with regulations, dry food storage was too cramped, test record of 3 first steps was not enough... Provincial Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Management Office has also organized inspection delegations to enterprises, business establishments producing and trading food items. Dinh Thien Thuan, Director of Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Bureau, said: "In general, the initial inspection results at large enterprises did not detected any violations. Small and medium enterprises also paid attention to food safety and hygiene, but there is a gap between concern and implementation, so shortcomings still exist. We warned and sanctioned deliberate violations. We are still waiting for testing results. "

Previously, inspection squads inspected 15 large companies in the province. At each location, the team took food samples for testing. Huynh Tan Cuc, Deputy Head of inspectorate of Provincial Food Safety and Hygiene Bureau, affirmed: "Enterprises and establishments that have samples not meeting standards on food hygiene and safety shall be strictly handled according to regulations and will be published on the media to alert consumers...”

Reported by Hong Thuan – Translated by Ngoc Huynh