Strong solutions are needed in implementing policies and laws on food safety.

(Baonghean) - Although there have been many measures to ensure food safety, food safety violations, food poisoning cases due to dirty food and food of unknown origin are still major concerns in the province. This situation requires strong solutions to ensure people's health...

Dirty food is rampant.

In recent times, all levels and sectors have made efforts to strengthen food safety management in the production, trading, transportation and preservation of fresh food, but in reality, there are still many shortcomings. For example, at slaughterhouses, for a long time, inspection of food origin, food quality and slaughtering process has been carried out, but in reality, this work still has many issues to discuss. Mr. Dinh Van Hai's slaughterhouse in Hamlet 4 - Tay Tho, Dien Tho Commune, Dien Chau District is considered a fairly large-scale investment facility with modern equipment.

The safe vegetable production area in Hamlet 3, Nghi Lien Commune (Vinh City) is still facing difficulties in consumption.

In 2015, Mr. Hai's facility received 30,000 USD from the Provincial Livestock Competitiveness and Food Safety Project to upgrade to a semi-industrial model. One important item was the investment in building a hanging slaughterhouse to ensure food safety. However, at the time of inspection, these systems were not working. In addition, the slaughtering process was not carried out according to the correct procedures. Pigs were still slaughtered directly on the floor, wastewater was not drained in time, and the slaughterers wore boots on the tables for fresh food.

In fact, in the province, many models have been invested and supported to build safe food production and processing areas. However, due to lack of synchronous investment, combined with having to compete with dirty food at cheaper prices, many models have not been able to stand firm to build their own brands. For example, the safe vegetable production model in Nghi Lien commune (Vinh city). Currently, the safe vegetable production area of ​​the commune has nearly 5 hectares with nearly 20 production households.

However, according to Mr. Hoang Van Tuan - Vice Chairman of Nghi Lien Commune People's Committee, although the State has invested in and supported the construction of the model from testing soil quality, water samples, varieties, and science and technology to produce clean food, the most difficult part is the consumption stage. Now, when brought to the market, vegetables produced according to the model still have to be sold at the same price as other vegetables. Recently, BB Garden Company has come to inspect and signed a contract with farmers to consume about 70% of vegetables at a price about 40% higher than the market price. However, the biggest concern of the people is whether this commitment will last long or not.

While clean food has not yet established itself in the market, dirty food is increasingly widespread, causing a lot of anxiety and confusion for consumers. Just looking at the amount of food that does not meet the regulations of the law on food safety makes many people ponder. Specifically, within 5 years from 2011 to 2016, the police force discovered and arrested 812 cases and 853 subjects with violations in the field of food safety. The police seized 205 tons of animals, 81 tons of bamboo shoots, nearly 300 thousand poultry, 12 tons of chemicals, food additives and 15 tons of vegetables and tubers that did not meet food safety standards.

Also during this period, the Department of Agriculture discovered 2,049/9,231 food production, processing and trading establishments that violated the law, and imposed fines of more than VND 1.2 billion. The most common establishments were slaughterhouses, animal product processing establishments and agricultural, forestry and fishery processing establishments. According to the leaders of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, violations in the use of pesticides, growth promoters and stimulants in cultivation and animal husbandry still exist and have not been fully controlled. Along with that, the reality of food production and processing in the province is still mainly manual, small-scale, and household economy, so awareness of product responsibility is limited, making it difficult to meet food safety regulations.

Weak in management capacity

It can be said that the reason for the widespread of dirty food of unknown origin in the market is, in addition to the responsibility of businesses and consumers, the State management of food safety in the area is generally weak. According to Mr. Hoang Van Tuan - Vice Chairman of Nghi Kim Commune People's Committee (Vinh City), although the commune government has strengthened management, the situation of food production and trading in violation of food safety is still widespread.

The reason is that although inspections are carried out, there are no proper measures to handle and deter violations, so the violating establishments are slow to correct their violations and become stubborn. “If we do inspect, we only check with the naked eye and feel the outside, but we do not have enough capacity and equipment to assess whether the product is of good quality or not. While street food is growing strongly, due to its seasonal nature and unstable locations, it is very difficult to manage,” Mr. Tuan added.

In fact, in the government system, the weakest link in food safety management is still at the commune and ward levels. However, according to Mr. Nguyen Hong Trung - Chairman of the People's Committee of Dien Hong Commune (Dien Chau), the commune government does not have enough authority as well as human and technical factors to determine the quality of products.

Therefore, the coordination and support of higher-level functional sectors is absolutely necessary in the context of dirty food becoming a "virus" spreading strongly as it is today. Sharing the same point of view, Chairman of Dien Yen Commune People's Committee - Mr. Duong Dang Hoang gave an example of small packages of candy of unknown origin being sold everywhere in front of school gates. This greatly affects the health of students. However, it is very difficult for the commune-level authority to handle it thoroughly. Therefore, it is necessary to have the drastic participation of functional sectors, to more strictly control the infiltration of goods of unknown origin into the market.

Despite receiving support from the State, the slaughtering process at Mr. Dinh Van Hai's slaughterhouse in Hamlet 4, Tay Tho, Dien Tho Commune (Dien Chau) is still not in accordance with regulations.

In recent times, although the province has issued a full range of legal documents on food safety, the implementation at the local level has not been consistent from the province to the district. In particular, the implementation at the ward, commune and town levels has not been good. Recently, during a working session with the National Assembly's monitoring delegation on the implementation of policies and laws on food safety, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Minh Thong emphasized: "In recent years, Nghe An has been very determined in ensuring food safety, especially in strengthening inspection and sanctioning establishments that violate food safety.

However, there are still some difficulties in controlling and preventing dirty food of unknown origin from entering the country. The authorities at commune, ward and town levels have not yet actively taken action. Regarding street food, fresh food sold on some streets of the city, markets, and food consumed during the festival season that does not ensure food safety, there are still complicated developments...”.

Faced with the above situation, in the coming time, the province needs to have drastic and strong solutions, especially controlling food right from the source. Along with that, increase investment and support the construction of models of production, processing and trading of clean food in a closed and safe chain. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen inspection work to detect and prevent the production and trading of fake, poor quality food, of unknown origin. For establishments that violate food safety, there must be a deterrent level of handling.

Nguyen Hung - Phuong Thao