Society

Food safety control transform needed

A national conference on the challenges to Vietnam’s food safety management was held by the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) and the Embassy of Canada in Vietnam in Hanoi on March 19.
A national conference on the challenges to Vietnam’s food safetymanagement was held by the Ministry of Agricultural and RuralDevelopment (MARD) and the Embassy of Canada in Vietnam in Hanoi onMarch 19.

Addressing the event, MARD DeputyMinister Vu Van Tam highlighted that food safety has come into publicfocus due to its major impacts on social health and socio-economicdevelopment.

The matter has been a top priorityfor the agriculture sector in recent years. This year was designated“the year of food safety” and its spirit and promotion plan will becontinued through a number of years towards ensuring food quality fordomestic use and export purposes, he added.

Tam stressed the need for an effective management mechanism to positively transform current food safety control efforts.

According to Nguyen Nhu Tiep, Director of the Department forAgricultural and Seafood Products Quality Management, Vietnam has anestablished legal framework and policy in accordance with the WTOagreement on the application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures(SPS) as well as Codex’s international standards, guidelines andrecommendations.

Food safety control systeminitiatives have been specifically assigned to the MARD, the Ministry ofHealth (MOH) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), enabling aneffective collaboration between the three.

However, he also pointed to several problems, including delays inrelated legal documents and insufficient published guidelines, the lackof linkages between input and output safety management in foodproduction and the lack of capable personnel, infrastructure andfunding.

Lucia Frick, Consultant at the CanadianDepartment of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, suggested thethree ministries increase the effectiveness of their collaborativeefforts and accelerate the handling of violations with highly capableinspectors.

It is also vital to have a transparent food safety control system at local levels, she said.

Shashi Sareen, Senior Food Safety and Nutrition Officer at FAORegional Office for Asia and the Pacific, said it is necessary tostrengthen collaborative efforts between the MARD and the Department ofFood Hygiene and Safety under the MOH to deal with related controversialissues.-VNA
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