A customer looks at potatoes at a safe food store of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance. (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Loose qualitymanagement and high prices prevent many citizens from accessing safe foodas Tet (Lunar New Year) approaches.
Food demand rises by 20 percent this time ofyear, creating opportunities for unsafe food to enter the marketplace.
Forty-five localities in the country arecollaborating with 380 supply chains to deliver safe vegetables, fruits, meat,eggs, rice and seafood. However, developing safe food supply chains andproviding citizens with safe food has been a struggle.
Food quality management has only touched the tipof the iceberg in terms of market supervision and does not cover the productionphase.
Only 0.6 percent of slaughterhouses in thecountry are legally operated, far from residential areas, and meet thehygiene standards for food safety. In other words, most of the food sold is notcontrolled.
Inspections by the Hanoi Department ofAgricultural and Rural Development showed that several vegetable productslabeled as “safe” at supermarkets and trade centres had not been certified byspecialised authorities, said Nguyen Thi Hang, deputy chief inspector of thedepartment.
In 2016, the department confiscated anddestroyed thousands of tonnes of uncertified “safe” seafood, beef, pork andbuffalo meat at credible stores, she said.
Some 1,800 agricultural products are being soldat 142 distribution stores a year after developing a vegetable and meat supplychain for the capital’s citizens, according to Chu Phu My, director of theagricultural department.
However, the price of safe food is often muchhigher than uncertified food, making it difficult to sell. A number ofdistribution stores closed down after struggling to sell the safe food.
To have stable quality, good service andreasonable prices and maintain their businesses, several owners of safe foodstores said that the Government should give them preferential tax policies andpricing support, as well as developing safe agricultural models and applyingmeasures to control food from production to distribution.
Tran Manh Chien, owner of the safe foodbrand Bac Tom, said that authorities need to increase inspections ofagricultural products sold at supermarkets and trade centres.
Agricultural co-operatives and farm ownersshould inspect food quality at their outlets, he added. They should endcontracts with the outlets and report to the authorities if they detect unsafefood in the stores labeled as safe food brands, he said.
Few State agencies have done a good job ofmarking unsafe food violations and violators.
The Hanoi-based Centre for media in EducatingCommunity (MEC) reported at a talk on food safety that until this month, onlyseven of 31 websites of agencies responsible for the issue publicised lists offood violations and violators.
According to the Law on handling administrativeviolations, food safety violations--as well as a litany of otherviolations--with serious consequences or bad social impact must be publiclybroadcast by relevant agencies.
The public notifications must be made on thewebsites or newspapers of ministerial -level or provincial department-levelmanagement agencies or the provincial –level People’s Committees of localitieswhere the violations are committed.
Speaking at the discussion organised by MEC andthe People and Nature Reconciliation (Pan Nature), lawyer Tran Thu Nam saidthat there had neither been sanctions nor punishments for State agencies thatdid not publicise food-relating violations on their websites.
Meanwhile, public notifications could be apunishment stronger than any administrative fine to violators, as notorietycould hurt business, he said.-VNA
Food demand rises by 20 percent this time ofyear, creating opportunities for unsafe food to enter the marketplace.
Forty-five localities in the country arecollaborating with 380 supply chains to deliver safe vegetables, fruits, meat,eggs, rice and seafood. However, developing safe food supply chains andproviding citizens with safe food has been a struggle.
Food quality management has only touched the tipof the iceberg in terms of market supervision and does not cover the productionphase.
Only 0.6 percent of slaughterhouses in thecountry are legally operated, far from residential areas, and meet thehygiene standards for food safety. In other words, most of the food sold is notcontrolled.
Inspections by the Hanoi Department ofAgricultural and Rural Development showed that several vegetable productslabeled as “safe” at supermarkets and trade centres had not been certified byspecialised authorities, said Nguyen Thi Hang, deputy chief inspector of thedepartment.
In 2016, the department confiscated anddestroyed thousands of tonnes of uncertified “safe” seafood, beef, pork andbuffalo meat at credible stores, she said.
Some 1,800 agricultural products are being soldat 142 distribution stores a year after developing a vegetable and meat supplychain for the capital’s citizens, according to Chu Phu My, director of theagricultural department.
However, the price of safe food is often muchhigher than uncertified food, making it difficult to sell. A number ofdistribution stores closed down after struggling to sell the safe food.
To have stable quality, good service andreasonable prices and maintain their businesses, several owners of safe foodstores said that the Government should give them preferential tax policies andpricing support, as well as developing safe agricultural models and applyingmeasures to control food from production to distribution.
Tran Manh Chien, owner of the safe foodbrand Bac Tom, said that authorities need to increase inspections ofagricultural products sold at supermarkets and trade centres.
Agricultural co-operatives and farm ownersshould inspect food quality at their outlets, he added. They should endcontracts with the outlets and report to the authorities if they detect unsafefood in the stores labeled as safe food brands, he said.
Few State agencies have done a good job ofmarking unsafe food violations and violators.
The Hanoi-based Centre for media in EducatingCommunity (MEC) reported at a talk on food safety that until this month, onlyseven of 31 websites of agencies responsible for the issue publicised lists offood violations and violators.
According to the Law on handling administrativeviolations, food safety violations--as well as a litany of otherviolations--with serious consequences or bad social impact must be publiclybroadcast by relevant agencies.
The public notifications must be made on thewebsites or newspapers of ministerial -level or provincial department-levelmanagement agencies or the provincial –level People’s Committees of localitieswhere the violations are committed.
Speaking at the discussion organised by MEC andthe People and Nature Reconciliation (Pan Nature), lawyer Tran Thu Nam saidthat there had neither been sanctions nor punishments for State agencies thatdid not publicise food-relating violations on their websites.
Meanwhile, public notifications could be apunishment stronger than any administrative fine to violators, as notorietycould hurt business, he said.-VNA
VNA
