Attendees and speakers at the workshop on February 25 in Hà Nội pose for a photo. Photos courtesy of SAFEGRO

HÀ NỘI — Sixty food safety officials and delegates from trade associations gathered in Hà Nội for a training workshop on digital traceability of food products.

The workshop, titled 'Training Workshop on Digital Traceability and Quality Management of Agricultural, Forestry, and Fishery Products', was organised by the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in cooperation with the Food Safety for Growth (SAFEGRO) project from the Canadian Government, for two days on February 24 and 25.

This initiative aims to strengthen the capacity of relevant governmental agencies, ensuring safer and higher-quality food for consumers.

Phạm Văn Duy, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development speaking at the opening session.

Speaking at the opening session, Phạm Văn Duy, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development, thanked the SAFEGRO project and the participant for contributing to creating a safer food market for all.

Participants were introduced to the digital traceability system, which SAFEGRO developed with ICheck JSC for the pork value chain of Hoàng Long Cooperative and the vegetable value chain of Văn Đức Cooperative in Hà Nội.

As of now, the system has completed the traceability process at the production stage, covering livestock farms and vegetable gardens, and has integrated with the slaughtering, preliminary processing, processing and packaging stages. In the future, the system will continue to expand to integrate with distribution and retail stages.

The digital traceability system operates on a real-time platform, offering transparent information at every stage of production. This feature allows distributors and supermarkets to remotely monitor and assess the quality of the entire supply chain, while also enabling efficient random inspections.

Additionally, the digital traceability system enhances product traceability, allowing rapid identification of stages where food safety issues may arise in case of incidents. This is considered a significant step forward in improving the quality and reliability of agricultural products, meeting the increasing consumer demand for food safety.

On the second day of the training programme, delegates at the workshop learned about the SAFEGRO project and regulations on product quality. Circular 01/2024/TT-BKHCN regulates the governmental review of product quality on the market.

The results of a survey on the application of agricultural product quality in Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng and Hồ Chí Minh City was also presented, and speakers also presented recommendations to further strengthen the legal basis and the regulations to control food origins. VNS