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GFSF serves as an industry platform to help improve food safety in the Asian market. This blog offers the most up-to-date news on Asia's food safety events.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Ministries Plan Surprise Food Safety Checks During Tet

VIET NAM NEWS: Updated January, 19 2016 14:39:00 Ministries plan surprise food safety checks during Tet Tet (Lunar New Year) festival, when a sharp increase in food demand and supply is expected. HA NOI (VNS) — Relevant ministries will carry out surprise food safety and hygiene inspections during the upcoming Tet festival. This was announced during an online meeting yesterday between ministries and localities on food safety during Tet. Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Van Viet said most of the cases involving violations of food safety and hygiene regulations were found during surprise checks. It was therefore necessary to increase surprise checks till the end of Tet, he said. The inspections should focus on products that were in high demand and supply and on key areas such as large cities, wholesale markets and border gates, he said. Inter-disciplinary inspectors from the ministries of agriculture and rural development, health and trade and industry have issued plans to ensure food safety during Tet. They will strengthen inspections of food production and processing facilities, farms, poultry slaughterhouses and wholesale markets, besides supermarkets, street food vendors and food products in high demand during the Tet holiday such as fruits, meat products, confectionary and liquor. However, Nguyen Thanh Phong, head of the health ministry's department of food safety, said ensuring food safety and hygiene was the responsibility of the whole community. It was the responsibility of authorised agencies to ensure food safety, but the law on food safety said food producers and businesses would bear the final responsibility for their products, Phong said. He said consumers too should raise their awareness about this issue and actively join the fight against non-certified food products. The ministries have asked localities to strictly punish cases of food safety violations. The names of the products and establishments involved in the violations will be made public to the media to warn consumers. — VNS