An inspector (right) gives leaflet on food safety to a trader in a market in HCM City. An action month on food safety will begin this Saturday in all provinces and cities across the country. – Photo tphcm.chinhphu.vn |
HÀ NỘI — An action month on food safety will begin this Saturday in all provinces and cities across the country.
The theme is producing, trading and using safe food and preventing liquor poisoning, according to the Việt Nam Food Administration (VFA) under the Ministry of Health.
During the month, six inspection teams will be founded to check food safety in 12 provinces and cities – Hà Nội, Hưng Yên, HCM City and Bến Tre, as well as Lào Cai, Lai Châu, Đắk Lắk and Gia Lai, along with Quảng Nam, Đà Nẵng, Ninh Thuận and Phú Yên.
The VFA said the action month would focus on preventing the use of chemical substances and industrial alcohol in producing liquor, preventing the use of banned substances in breeding and using plant protection substances in vegetables and fruits.
In response to the action month, so far, different provinces and cities have conducted measures to ensure food safety and hygiene.
Northern mountainous Lào Cai Province has set up an inspection team to check food safety in 10 communes in Bắc Hà, Bát Xát, Mường Khương, Văn Bàn and Sa Pa districts.
All the communes are located along the border where ethnic Hà Nhì, Mông and Dao minorities reside, whose awareness on food safety is limited.
The inspection team also gave guidance on food safety to communes’ health stations and took liquor samples from liquor shops for testing.
In the northern province of Hà Nam, during the first three months of this year, 134 inspection teams were founded, which checked nearly 1,500 food enterprises. A total of 975 enterprises adhered to norms related to food safety, 518 others violated the norms and 72 were fined more than VNĐ148 million (US$6,500). — VNS