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| Hà Nội police and market watchdog staff inspect food additives without clear origin in Nam Từ Liêm District. Five inter-sector inspection teams will be set up to tighten control of food hygiene. — VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn |
Viet Nam News
HÀ NỘI — The municipal People’s Committee chairman, Nguyễn Đức Chung, has ordered the establishment of five inter-sector inspection teams on food safety and hygiene.
The teams will conduct unscheduled inspections on workshops which process, manufacture, import and sell food, food for special health use, ingredients, and additives, as well as food packages. Each team is in charge of six districts.
The inspections will continue until the end of this year.
The city’s Department of Industry and Trade, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Health Department have been assigned to manage the inspections.
The hotline numbers of these departments are 043.7757.277 (Health Department), 190.0585.826 (Department of Industry and Trade) and 043.3800.115 (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development).
The municipal People’s Committee chairman asked inspectors to immediately suspend violators and report them to relevant authorised agencies to determine penalties.
In case of criminal offences, reports must be sent to the police for further investigation.
According to new criminal code, which will come into effect shortly on July 1, the use of banned substances in animal husbandry will face harsher punishment of up to VNĐ200 million (US$8,900) or a jail term from one to 20 years.
Leading officials of the concerned departments and the municipal People’s Committee will be regularly apprised of the inspection results.
Ensuring food safety and hygiene is one of the primary targets of the Hà Nội authority following the outflow of contaminated food discovered in the city and across the country recently.
As of May 31 this year, the city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development presented food safety certificates to 264 business bases of agriculture, forestry and aquaculture products.
Last month, as part of the city’s efforts to provide safe food to residents, the safe farm produce market at 489 Hoàng Quốc Việt, Hà Nội, was launched. The market is open from Friday to Sunday in the second and the last weeks of each month. — VNS
