To reassure people about food during Tet (Lunar New Year)

(Baonghean) - With the Lunar New Year of the Goat approaching, many types of food and ready-made meals have appeared on the market to serve the needs of gift-giving and consumption. To ensure food safety and hygiene and the health of the people, Deputy Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Thi Le Thanh, along with functional forces, personally conducted inspections and supervision of food safety and hygiene... The inspection revealed that there are still many issues regarding food safety and hygiene that need to be addressed.

"Don't just be good when there's a test!"

During the online conference on epidemic prevention, food safety, and ensuring health activities during the Lunar New Year of the Goat, organized by the Ministry of Health on the morning of February 5th, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Thi Le Thanh requested the health sector and relevant agencies to further strengthen monitoring, inspection, and handling of food safety and hygiene violations in the province. The Vice Chairman particularly emphasized the importance of "three-no" instant food products – those lacking labels, clear origin of production, and expiration dates; and also stressed the need for public awareness campaigns on how to choose safe food.

Comrade Dinh Thi Le Thanh and the inter-agency inspection team check food safety and hygiene at Vinh Market. Photo: ts

Unable to be satisfied with the current situation, on the morning of February 6th, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Thi Le Thanh led an inter-agency inspection team to conduct a surprise inspection at Vinh Market – the province's largest commercial center. Vinh Market currently has 80,000 square meters of floor space with 3,200 business households. Although the Lunar New Year is approaching, the overall buying and selling activity is not as vibrant as in previous years. According to Mr. To Thanh Nhan, Head of the Vinh Market Management Board, compared to the same period last year, the number of people shopping at the market is estimated to have decreased by about 50%, even though goods prices are generally stable. Food safety and hygiene have also been strengthened through propaganda, mobilization, signed commitments, and the active operation of functional forces…

An inter-agency inspection team checks food safety and hygiene at Vinh Market. Photo: Thanh Hoa (Health Center)

During an inspection at Vinh Market, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and the delegation visited confectionery, dried goods, and fresh food stores, inquired about and shared the difficulties faced by vendors in their businesses, and reminded and encouraged everyone to comply with current regulations on food hygiene and safety. Overall, the goods at the retail outlets and stores in Vinh Market met the requirements regarding information, standard specifications, and quality. However, the inter-agency team still discovered some items whose origin and quality were difficult to verify, such as dried fish, dried squid, shrimp paste, and fresh meat. Ms. Dinh Thi Le Thanh immediately requested that representatives of the functional forces included in the inspection team continuously review the markets with specialized inspection contents before, during, and after the 2015 Lunar New Year, focusing on combating smuggling, counterfeit goods, and substandard products that directly affect consumers. She also emphasized the need to intensify information dissemination to businesses regarding legal regulations in the areas of pricing and food safety and hygiene. The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also stressed that the situation shouldn't only improve when inspections are conducted. This means that reports from markets and functional units cannot be relied upon; there must be a commitment to ensuring control over the actual situation...

Publicly announce and strictly punish violations.

This is the second time Vinh Market has been inspected during this peak period of inspections for goods during the Lunar New Year. The previous inspection, a week prior, saw widespread violations. During that inspection, the inter-agency team reminded businesses to rectify their practices and dealt with numerous violations. This latest inspection, led by Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Thi Le Thanh, shows a significant improvement in food safety and hygiene at Vinh Market. However, as the Vice Chairman reminded, complacency should be avoided, as the number of shoppers increases rapidly as Tet approaches, potentially leading to a surge in counterfeit and substandard goods entering the market and an increase in violations.

To ensure people can shop with peace of mind during Tet (Lunar New Year), food safety and hygiene have been a priority for relevant authorities. Along with the management boards of major markets such as Vinh Market and Vinh Train Station Market, inter-agency inspection teams from the province and Vinh City, and the mobile inspection team of the Market Management Department have been regularly present, providing information and disseminating regulations on pricing and food safety and hygiene to businesses and individuals, as well as handling violations. In a brief exchange with Mr. Nguyen Van Huong – Team Leader of the Mobile Market Management Team, he stated: Basically, business owners have absorbed the information well and are conducting their business in accordance with the law. However, some individuals are still deliberately trading in counterfeit and substandard goods. We are determined to handle these violations and destroy the confiscated goods.

Is there a lack of food safety and hygiene during Tet (Lunar New Year)? Will counterfeit, fake, and substandard goods continue to appear? – The answer remains open. However, one thing worth considering, as we observed at Vinh market, is that people still lack awareness and knowledge in choosing clean food. Consumers lack the awareness and means to assess whether food is safe; the risk of counterfeit, substandard, and unsanitary food is very high. To ensure consumer health, the immediate need is to disseminate information.

To combat smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit production, and illegal business activities during the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Goat (2015), from the beginning of November 2014, the Market Management Department directed its teams to intensify inspections and supervision. In coordination with functional forces and local authorities, patrols and inspections were conducted to detect individuals transporting and trading prohibited goods and smuggled items. Inspections were also carried out at warehouses, depots, and wholesale markets. Inspections focused on combating fraud in the use of invoices and documents for the transportation and sale of goods, primarily targeting items such as alcohol, beer, soft drinks, milk and dairy products, cakes, jams, candies, vegetable oil, starch, grains, and fresh food. In January 2015 alone, the Market Management Department inspected 807 cases and processed 590 violations, imposing fines totaling nearly 700,000,000 VND. These included 59 cases of commercial fraud, 11 cases of counterfeit goods and intellectual property rights violations, and 15 cases of food safety and hygiene violations.

Mr. Dao Trong Dung, Head of the Food Safety and Hygiene Sub-Department, pointed out several worrying issues regarding food safety and hygiene in markets today. The most common is unclear labeling and the lack of specific origin information, especially for imported goods. Furthermore, fresh produce such as sausages and processed foods are difficult to manage, particularly the use of additives. Many items lack packaging, posing potential food safety risks. In addition, in some areas, the awareness and understanding of business owners are poor, prioritizing profit over consumer health and product quality. The inspection team seized and destroyed 222 kg of candy of unknown origin being sold in markets and fined several businesses 15 million VND. Currently, in addition to the provincial inter-agency inspection team, localities have also established 21 inspection teams to monitor food safety and hygiene in markets. However, with limited resources and facilities for conducting tests, management remains extremely challenging.

Therefore, to ensure food safety and hygiene during the Lunar New Year and to select quality products, in addition to the involvement of relevant authorities, consumers also need to be cautious when making choices. When shopping, people should choose reputable stores, especially for fresh produce; carefully read the information on the labels. Absolutely do not use products of unknown origin, counterfeit goods, or imitations. At the same time, if you discover counterfeit goods, imitation goods, or products that do not meet food safety and hygiene standards, report them to the relevant authorities.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Dinh Thi Le Thanh, once again emphasized during the inspection on the morning of February 6th that: Functional agencies need to strictly handle and publicly disclose violating establishments through mass media so that people can avoid and boycott them; Authorities at all levels and market management boards should be more proactive in disseminating information to help people have knowledge to prevent food poisoning and choose clean, quality-assured food… Hopefully, functional agencies and localities will do well in implementing this directive, not waiting until the end of the peak inspection period to publicly disclose the names and addresses, because by then Tet will be over and many people will have suffered food poisoning; not waiting until a campaign is launched to disseminate information because the worry about food safety and hygiene is always present every day and every hour.

Thanh Son - My Ha