Deputy director of theMinistry of Health's Food Administration, Nguyen Thanh Phong, spoke withThoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Vietnam Economic Times) about efforts toensure food safety.
* How was the nation's food safety in 2013?
Much work has been done on food safety since the beginning of theyear. Many legal documents have been promulgated, such as GovernmentDecree 38 on implementing some articles of the Food Safety Law, orDecree 178 regulating high administrative penalties for food-safetyviolations.
Fine levels will be increased to 200million VND (9,500 USD) for an organisation or 100 million VND (4,750USD) for an individual. The Government and National Assembly agreed toraise fine levels up to seven times higher than the value of anyfoodstuff confiscated.
In addition, supplementarypenalisation will include licence withdrawal or publishing details ofthe violation in the mass media.
Since we started promoting food hygiene rules through communications and inspections, the situation has greatly improved.
However, there are many violations, such as the use of food additives,smuggled goods, and the slaughtering of animals that need to be moretightly controlled and more effort will be needed.
* The discoveries of unsafe food have been small compared to the overall amount that appears to be circulating. Why?
The number of violators that have been penalised doesn't reflectreality. In fact, many violations have been poorly handled.
Food processing at home and inadequate awareness by the public hascreated many difficulties for inspectors to do their jobs.
* What do you think about shortcomings in food-safety management?
There are many risks associated with processing, delivering, storingand preparing food. World Health Organisation statistics show that about10 percent of people in developing countries, including Vietnam, areaffected by unsafe food at times.
In Vietnam, manyhouseholds involved in food processing follow traditional methods.Small-scale production and eating fermented pork rolls or raw fish couldcreate high risks of food poisoning. People should be encouraged tochange those habits and choose less risky food.
Inaddition, investment in food-safety management is modest. Unsanitaryconditions need to be tightly controlled to prevent threats to largesections of the people. It is acknowledged that food-safety workers arein short supply and weak in professional quality because many provincialfood-administration units are new. This is a big shortcoming in makinginspections and handling violations.
* How will food safety management, inspections and supervision be implemented during the final weeks of the year?
From now to the end of the year, especially before the Tet period,food demand is high. The wet weather in the north could lead to thedevelopment of mould, especially in beans and seeds containing oil, suchas sunflowers and pumpkin seeds. In the south, food like meat, egg andmilk easily deteriorate in hot weather.
We areadvising the health ministry to issue a plan for strengthening foodsafety during Tet. Activities will be focused on strengthening communityknowledge on choosing, cooking and preserving food safely.
Inspections, quality control and check on smuggling will be tightenedthroughout the country. We will establish eight or nine key inspectionteams to help provincial, district and communal inspectionauthorities.-VNA
