HCM CITY — The Food Safety Management Board of HCM City conducted food safety inspections at Kim Biên Market (District 5) and Bình Tây Market (District 6) on Tuesday to ensure safety and hygiene for the upcoming Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday.

Đỗ Xuân Trường, deputy head of Kim Biên Market management board, said last year the management board conducted 23 inspections and required the 16 households that sell spices and food additives at the market to keep them in coolers.

Phạm Khánh Phong Lan, head of the city’s Food Safety Management Board, said the households were granted business registration certification and food hygiene and safety certification. The spices and food additives are included on a list of approved uses by the Ministry of Health.

The confusion between food and industrial additives has been a problem for many years. “To solve the problem, we must strictly manage Kim Biên Market, which has a large number of traders of chemicals, spices and additives,” Lan said.

“If there are no sellers, people will not be able to buy toxic chemicals to use in food,” Lan added.

The management board has told the households to comply with the law and ensure food safety.

At Bình Tây Market, the largest supplier of Tết jams in the city, the inspection team checked the invoices and certificates of origin of jam products.

The inspection team also conducted a quick test on some jam products such as ginger jam and coconut jam. The result were negative for food colouring.

On Tuesday afternoon, the inspection team visited the Co.op Food Convenience Store at Hoàng Anh Thanh Bình Apartment and Lotte Supermarket in District 7 to check the quality of foods and products.

The team conducted a quick test of borax on fresh products and a formol test on rice noodles. The results were negative for borax and formol.

The Food Safety Management Board will continue to check food safety in some supermarkets and wholesale markets in the city. — VNS