Need to strengthen the responsibility of food producers and traders

The conference to deploy the Action Month was held by the Provincial People's Committee on the morning of April 12.Comrade Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Deputy Head of the Provincial Food Safety Inter-sectoral Steering Committee chaired the conference.

In recent times, the work of ensuring food safety and hygiene in the province has received attention and direction from all sectors and levels. Information and communication activities have been strengthened, thereby raising awareness and responsibility of leaders at all levels, sectors, organizations, producers, processors, traders and consumers.

Attending the conference to deploy the Action Month were representatives of leaders of departments, branches, districts, cities, towns and many businesses in the province. Photo: Thanh Chung

Inspection and examination work has been strengthened at all levels. In 2017, 2,154 interdisciplinary inspection and examination teams were established from the provincial to communal levels. Of these, 2,429 violating establishments were handled with a total fine of nearly 1.327 billion VND.

Coordination activities in state management of food safety and hygiene have been strengthened and brought about efficiency. In the province, many pilot models have been built in production, business and farming such as clean vegetable fields, food store chains under the VietGAP program...

In addition to the achieved results, the work of ensuring food safety and hygiene in the province still faces many difficulties and challenges such as: the use of banned substances in animal husbandry; pesticide residues in vegetables, fruits, meat, and seafood; producers and traders still put profit first.

The Nghe An Province Interdisciplinary Inspection Team inspected a ham production facility in Nghi Phu Commune, Vinh City. Photo: Thanh Chung

The 2018 Food Safety Action Month with the theme “Enhancing the responsibility of food producers and traders” was implemented from April 15 to May 15. The highlight is to create a peak period for food safety; create a wave of launching a communication campaign to promote activities in compliance with the law on food safety and hygiene in the stages of food production and trading.

Launching the Food Safety Action Month 2018, comrade Dinh Viet Hong stated: Strengthening the responsibility of food producers and traders is a practical content to ensure the health of consumers. This topic is closely linked to the spirit of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP, which is that enterprises are fully responsible for their food products before they are put on the market.

Comrade Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee launched the Action Month for Food Safety in 2018. Photo: Thanh Chung

To ensure food safety and hygiene effectively, comrade Dinh Viet Hong requested: All levels and sectors, especially district and commune levels, must enhance their roles and responsibilities in ensuring food safety and hygiene in their management areas. Promote effective coordination between the government and organizations in ensuring food safety and hygiene, mobilize the whole community to participate in monitoring, detecting and denouncing establishments, organizations and individuals producing dirty food.

Authorities must strengthen inspections and strictly handle food production and trading establishments that do not comply with food safety regulations. At the same time, they must honor, promote and encourage organizations and individuals to produce safe food products and chains./.