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| An agro market which offered safe food to customers in Trà Vinh City, Trà Vinh Province ahead of 2018 Tết (Lunar New Year). Trà Vinh Province tops the national ranking on the safety management of agro, forestry and seafood products in 2017. – VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Hòa |
Viet Nam News
HÀ NỘI - Just 13 out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide are considered to have good practice of food safety management, according to a newly-released report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
The ranking scored provinces and cities to assess how they practised management on the safety of agro, forestry and seafood products in 2017. It is the third ranking of its kind to be released, after two previous ones in 2015 and 2016.
Among the 13 localities with good practice, the Mekong Delta province of Trà Vinh scored highest, gaining 87.5 out of 100 points. This was followed by the provinces of Cần Thơ, Hậu Giang, Ninh Thuận, Nam Định, Hà Nam, Hà Tĩnh, Sơn La, Quảng Bình, Đồng Nai, Lai Châu, Bình Phước, and Quảng Ninh (81.5 to 97 points).
Significantly, Cần Thơ and Hà Tĩnh provinces jumped from the previous year’s “limitations remain” category to the top ten of 2017.
HCM City dropped from the top ten of 2016 to 25th in 2017.
Hà Nội has secured its position in the “qualified” group in the last two years; however, it slid from 14th position in 2016 to 19th in 2017.
Phú Yên, Gia Lai, Bắc Kạn, Bắc Giang, and Khánh Hòa provinces were ranked at the bottom of the 2017 ranking.
According to MARD’s National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department, authorised agencies at the local level play an important role in food safety assurance, especially in the agriculture sector.
Following the rankings in 2016, many provinces at the bottom of the list made an effort to perform better, and subsequently obtained high rankings in 2017.
MARD also revealed that through improved management, the level of pesticides and anti-biotics in seafood and meat products declined in 2017.
The ranking on the management of provinces and cities on agro, forestry and seafood products is based on a set of criteria and follows assessment process issued by the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development in 2015.
The quantity of the tasks and management effectiveness are under close scrutiny.
Five elements make up the criteria to score localities, namely efficiency of inspection and punishments of food safety violations; dissemination and education aiming to raise people’s awareness on law implementation; directing food safety management; building capacity on food safety management, and developing safe food supply chains. - VNS
