Action month on food safety launched nationwide
An action month on food safety was launched on April 15 in various localities across the country, focusing on producing, trading and using safe food and preventing liquor poisoning.
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In Ho Chi Minh City, the municipal People’s Committee formed an interdisciplinary working group to perform State management over food safety and conduct inspections on producing, processing and trading facilities.
Pham Khanh Phong Lan, head of the municipal Food Safety Management Committee, said the city will strengthen the control of alcohol’s origin as well as wine using industrial alcohol.Meanwhile, Vice Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thi Thu asked authorized agencies to strictly handle violations in the field.
Meanwhile, at a launching ceremony for the action month in the central city of Da Nang, the city’s People’s Committee called on all sectors, organizations and localities in the city to coordinate closely in popularizing knowledge and law on food safety among the public, while implementing measures to prevent food and alcohol poisoning.
According to Nguyen Dinh Phuc, Vice Director of the municipal Department for Industry and Trade, the city currently has 300 small-scale wine producing facilities, only three of which have been licenced to make home-made wine and two others to produce wine with the production line.
The department has granted licences to 24 wine trading firms, and while wards and districts have also licensed other 428 organisations and individuals, he said.
Phuc added that the majority of the facility use backward equipment and technology, failing to meet food safety standards, while the city has faced many difficulties in tackling fake wine.
During the month, six inspection teams will be set up to check food safety in 12 provinces and cities – Hanoi, Hung Yen, HCM City and Ben Tre, as well as Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Dak Lak and Gia Lai, along with Quang Nam, Da Nang, Ninh Thuan and Phu Yen.
The Vietnam Food Association said the action month will focus on preventing the use of chemical substances and industrial alcohol in producing liquor, preventing the use of banned substances in breeding and using plant protection substances in vegetables and fruits.
In response to the action month, so far, different provinces and cities have conducted measures to ensure food safety and hygiene.
Northern mountainous Lao Cai Province has set up an inspection team to check food safety in 10 communes in Bac Ha, Bat Xat, Muong Khuong, Van Ban and Sa Pa districts.
All the communes are located along the border where ethnic Ha Nhi, Mong and Dao minorities reside, whose awareness on food safety is limited.
The inspection team also gave guidance on food safety to communes’ health stations and took liquor samples from liquor shops for testing.
