Bussinesses fined 17 billion VND for food safety violations in HCM City
- More food safety inspections scheduled for holidays
- Vietnam wants World Bank’s support in food safety
- Food safety violations in Hanoi sharply increases in 2017
The above information was revealed by Deputy Chief of the food safety inspectorate department Duong Phat Chieu at a meeting to review its task in 2018 on January 4. According to Chieu, 11,395 units among 41,032 bussinisses examined in HCM City were found to have violated food safety regulations in 2018 by inspectors.
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| Companies fined 17 billion VND for food safety violations in HCM City |
Of the violators, more than 2,790 units had to pay fines exceeding a total of 17 billion VND and had their unsafe food destroyed.
Head of the City Food Safety Management Board Pham Khanh Phong Lan said that the board has set up food safety inspection teams in the festive season, aiming to curb food safety violations and poisoning cases. Inspectors will cooperate with farmer and woman associations to increase information of food safety in districts and handicraft villages.
Earlier, a report by the Health Ministry stated that the ministry collected 88 billion VND worth of administrative sanctions in 2018 regarding violations of food safety, up 1.4 times compared to 2017, according to the VNA.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Public Security, and others also conducted a number of inspections of food safety from central to local levels.
However, there remain several problems including the abuse of plant protection drugs, the abuse of chemicals and antibiotics in agricultural and aquatic production, the use of additives in food processing, and unhygienic slaughter methods.
At a meeting on January 4 in Hanoi, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam who is head of the Central Inter-sectorial Steering Committee on Food Safety, has asked for tightened management and harsher punishment for violations of food safety.
The Deputy PM requested the implementation of food safety monitoring programs on a national scale with the focus on the use of chemicals and plant protection drugs in the production and preservation of agricultural products and slaughter hygiene in big cities and agricultural production areas.
