To ensure food safety during Tet holiday

 At year-end time, the demand for food and daily necessities tends to increase, thus the issue of food safety concerns many people. To ensure food safety and avoid food poisoning at this time, the authorities recommend that people need to choose and consider carefully as buying consumer products.

Consumers buy fruits at Thu Dau Mot market

 Food safety concerns

Currently, the shopping demand at the end of the year is increasing. At some markets in Thu Dau Mot city, such as: Thu Dau Mot market (Phu Cuong ward), Vinh Son market, Binh Diem market (Phu Hoa ward), Cay Dua market (Hiep Thanh ward), Phu My market (Phu My ward) etc. the shopping demand of people is increasing compared to previous months.

The most consumed goods are fresh food (cattle meat, poultry meat, fish...), ready-made items such as spring rolls, jam, confectionery, and fruits. These are also items that make consumers worry the most about food safety. Taking advantage of the increasing shopping demand, some small shops still sell products of poor quality for profit.

At Thu Dau Mot market, many items, such as: confectionery, melon seeds, sunflower seeds... are poorly packed in nylon bags, with no product information or unclear manufacturer information and sold at a cheap price.

As being asked about the origin of these products, sellers said these products were produced in countries, such as: Thailand, China, Korea... Dried foods, such as: bamboo shoots, vermicelli, mushrooms... also have no origin information.

At Phu My market, many kinds of confectionery and dried fruits are packed in nylon bags or sacks in the state of "3 NOs": no origin, no production address, no label, no expiration date. These products are sold by weight or pre-packaged but do not have a food safety registration.

Many fresh products are also widely sold without quarantine marks, safety certifications of authorities... Bui Thi Dao (Phu My ward), said: Confectionery, soft drinks etc. have information of origin, expiry date on its packing, while the quality of meat, fish, and vegetables are evaluated only by senses and seller’s words.

Although there are concerns about product quality, the convenience factor and reasonable price have made many consumers buy cheap products. Bo Thi Thanh (Phu Hoa ward), said: “Whenever I go shopping, the first thing I care about is whether the price is affordable or not. My husband and I are both workers, our average monthly income is only nearly VND10 million, but we must spend a lot.

Be smart consumers

In order to ensure food safety in the last months of the year, especially during the New Year and Lunar New Year holidays, Dr. Huynh Minh Chin, Deputy Director of Provincial Department of Health, recommends that consumers should not buy foods of unknow origin, do not use rancid, moldy foods.

Do not buy prepackaged products that have expired, although the products have not showed abnormal signs; and should not store food for too long, even in refrigerator. Consumers should pay more attention to food quality, only buy products of clear origin, food safety guarantee. Saying no to dirty food is how consumers protect themselves and their families.

When choosing any goods or food, the first thing concerns consumers should be certificate of food hygiene and safety, its expiry date on the product packaging. Most products sold in supermarkets fully have this information. Many goods and foods sold at markets often have unquarantined process of handling, packaging and preserving. The food quality is evaluated by solely the experience and feelings of the consumer.

In addition to consumer protection, the authorities in the province have strengthened the implementation of food safety control measures. Department of Health directed Food Safety and Hygiene Office to proactively and urgently coordinate with relevant agencies to synchronously implement plans of food safety and hygiene guarantee; closely coordinate with functional agencies to inform, instruct measures to ensure food safety, prevent food contamination, raise awareness, and change behaviors that do not ensure safety in food selection, preservation, processing and use; ready to take measures when incidents of food safety and food poisoning occur.

“The department also resolutely handles violations of food safety regulation, publicizes violations and handling results of violations on mass media to warn producers, sellers and the community", emphasized Dr. Huynh Minh Chin.

Reported by Hoang Linh - Translated by Ngoc Huynh