HCM CITY — HCM City’s Food Safety Management Board will continue to sign agreements with provincial departments of agriculture and rural development to develop safe supply chains for agricultural and fisheries produce.

As around 80 per cent of fisheries produce in HCM City is supplied by other cities and provinces, the development of safe supply chains is crucial to ensure that farm and fisheries produce is under supervision, said Phạm Khánh Phong Lan, head of the board.

A total of 73 farms, producers and traders in HCM City and the provinces of Đồng Nai, Bình Dương, Bình Phước, Tiền Giang, Long An, Lâm Đồng, Hậu Giang, Kiên Giang, Đồng Tháp, Sóc Trăng, Bạc Liêu and Bình Thuận provinces received certification to take part in the pilot food safety chain model, Lan said at a meeting held on Thursday in HCM City.

Every year, these 73 certified facilities supply to HCM City a total of 91,300 tonnes of agricultural and fisheries produce with clear origins and cultivation under Vietnamese and global good agricultural (GAP) practices, including eggs, chicken, duck meat, pork, buffalo meat, beef, vegetables, seafood and fish sauce.

On the same day, the city’s Food Safety Management Board kicked off the 2018 Green Expo with 100 booths showcasing farm produce, frozen food and packaged food.

The four-day expo at the Military Zone 7 Stadium is a business platform for certified farms, producers and traders to introduce their agricultural and fisheries produce to consumers and distributors in the city. —VNS