Fish sold at Hanoi’s Dong Xuan Market. (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Hanoi needs to intensify food safety inspections andinvestigations, as well as promote the safe cultivation of raw materials andagricultural products, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has said.
Speakingat the launch of a programme on food safety in Hanoi on August 20, the DeputyPM requested the capital city consider food safety an urgent priority and focusall financial and human resources, equipment and facilities on eliminatingunsafe food.
Initiated by the capital city’s health, agricultural and trade departments, incollaboration with the Hanoi Union of Science and Technology Associations(HUSTA), the four-phase programme will be implemented from 2017 to 2020, aimingto raise awareness and increase responsibility of individuals, households andthe wider community in using safe food in daily meals.
During the first phase of the programme, booths that provide safe food will beestablished at five apartment complexes. They will be extended to 30 apartmentcomplexes by the fourth phase.
Deputy PM Dam said he appreciated the efforts made by the city and relevant authoritiesin launching the initiative, especially at a time when the spread of unsafefood is threatening the health of consumers more than ever.
“I hope the programme will not only connect food providers and consumers butalso educate individuals, households and the community on the importance ofhaving safe food in one’s daily diet,” he said.
Apart from increasing focus on identifying, inspecting and destroying unsafefood, the capital city should also invest more in “developing safe agriculturalcultivation areas, widening the application of the Vietnamese GoodAgricultural Practices (VietGAP) and similar models, and developing safe fooddistribution systems,” he added.
In order to ensure that safe meals are delivered to the table of every family, itneeds a close collaboration among the five parties that are the State,scientists, journalists, enterprises and consumers, according to the programme’sorganisers.
This close collaboration will not only help identify unsafe food but also solvedifficulties in management, helping to control food quality from the beginningof the supply chain.-VNA
VNA
