Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam (middle) at the event (Source: VNA) The report showed that 80 percentof pork and 85 percent of vegetables are mostly sold in wet markets in Hanoiand Ho Chi Minh City while 76 percent of pork are slaughtered in small anddirty facilities.
Food-derived diseases are mainlycaused by micro-organism contamination. Besides, abuse of chemicals used inagriculture is a challenge for food safety.
Speaking at the event, DeputyPrime Minister Vu Duc Dam, head of the Central Inter-Sector Steering Committeeon Food Safety and Hygiene, thanked the WB and international organisations forassisting Vietnam in food safety issues over the past years.
He pledged that the Vietnamesegovernment would continue partnering with the WB to take specific actions and disseminatethe report’s recommendations to the public.
According to him, Vietnam is amajor farm produce exporter so that its products meet food safety requirementsof demanding markets such as Japan, European Union and the US. However, the mostserious concern relates to domestically-consumed food, from farming, processingto trading.
He called for improving thecapacity of State management agencies from the grassroots to the central level whileraising public awareness of laws regarding the manufacturing, processing andsupply of safe food, among others.
The report, entitled “Food safetyrisk management in Vietnam: Challenges and opportunities”, takes stock ofVietnam’s food safety, food safety control systems, analyses food safety risksfor several major food value chains based on the world’s best practices in riskanalysis measures, gives recommendations to Vietnam to improve food safety, witha focus on pork manufacturing chains in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
It recommends building arisk-based control system and applying principles of reviewing management risksbuilt by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and the WorldHealth Organisation, as well as helps define specific goals in the nationalfood safety strategy.-VNA
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