CẦN THƠ — Monitoring of the import and trading of fresh foods without clear origins will be strengthened to keep them out and ensure food safety, a top Cần Thơ health official has said.

Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, Nguyễn Trung Nghĩa, deputy director of the city Department of Health, said a hotline has already been set up for the public to inform authorities about food safety violations.

“The Department of Health will strengthen checks of business establishments distributing health supplements, preservatives and additives to ensure safety of street foods and at canteens in industrial parks, schools, tourism areas, festivals and events.”

Besides, relevant agencies would improve oversight to prevent the use of salbutamol and antibiotics in breeding animals and producing and processing foods, he said.

The city will call on food producers to ensure the quality of their products is high and take proactive measures to minimise food poisoning.

The People’s Committee said there would also be frequent safety inspections of such establishments to prevent food poisoning.

The city hopes to reduce the number of food poisoning cases by 25 per cent this year.

It wants, by this year, all business establishments to get food safety certificates and all supermarkets and 55 per cent of markets to come under its food safety control.

It wants at least 30 per cent of food businesses to obtain international quality certification like GMP, HACCP, ISO9001 and ISO22000.

In January the chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs, Nguyễn Thúy Anh, led a committee delegation that appraised the city’s implementation of food safety policies and laws. — VNS