Use phone to check food quality

This is an activity promoted by Ho Chi Minh City in November and December, aiming to tighten management, ensure food safety and hygiene, and control the origin and quality of fresh foods.

Consumer peace of mind

Currently, it is still quite simple for small traders to bring fresh food to traditional markets for consumption. Therefore, when buying and selling this item, many consumers are still worried about the quality of fresh food in the markets. However, if consumers can trace the origin of fresh food by themselves using smartphones, both small traders and consumers will feel more secure.

Ms. Do Thi Hanh, living in Phuoc Binh (District 9) said that up to now, when buying fresh food, she often buys at retail markets and buys based on her senses, so she is always worried about the quality.

“I usually only check the quality of meat by eye, such as looking at the red, fresh-colored meat… If we can clearly check the origin of pork using a smartphone, it will help consumers know the origin of this product, the owner of the farm, the slaughterhouse… and if we have questions about the quality of the product, we will know where to find the right address to ask,” Ms. Hanh shared.

According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City, currently, the demand for fresh products of the city's residents is on average about 850 - 900 buffaloes and cows, 9,000 - 10,000 pigs, 120,000 - 130,000 poultry and about 200 tons of chicken, buffalo and beef meat and imported frozen by-products. To prevent dirty food in the markets, implementing a project to trace the origin of fresh food using smartphones is one of many effective solutions today.

Simple and easy to do

After 2 months of preparation, the project to trace the origin of fresh food using smartphones has now had the participation of 15 businesses and livestock facilities with nearly 1,000 farms; 11 slaughterhouses (including 2 facilities in the area, 3 facilities in Dong Nai, 5 facilities in Long An and 1 in Binh Duong)...

For the traditional distribution system, 2 wholesale pork markets, Binh Dien and Hoc Mon, have registered to participate, accounting for more than 80% of the meat output supplied to the city market. In the retail market type, there are 4 markets implementing the first pilot phase: Ben Thanh, An Dong, Hoa Binh, Thai Binh. Up to now, nearly 100% of pork traders in these 4 markets have registered to participate. For the modern distribution system, there are currently 5 supermarket systems with 59 supermarkets registered to participate such as Co.opmart, Big C, Satramart, Aeon, Aeon Citimart. In addition, there are 4 convenience store systems participating.

According to this project, the process of controlling and tracing the origin of pork products by applying modern information technology is a solution to ensure food safety. The information technology management system can store all the above information for 5-10 years, has the ability to analyze, screen and blacklist or delimit areas, subjects, and phenomena suspected of violations so that managers and authorities can increase inspection and take measures to handle. Thereby, the system also supports consumers through a map of pork sales points that have been controlled according to the process to know and conveniently choose to shop.

Using phone to check food quality. Photo illustration from internet

According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, Deputy Director of the City Department of Industry and Trade, Phase 1 of the project will begin piloting at the initial participating units from December 10 and will be officially implemented throughout the city from March 1, 2017. In this phase, the management of identification and traceability of pork will be implemented from the farm gate when it is shipped to slaughterhouses, wholesale markets, supermarkets and retail markets. Phase 2 will implement closed-loop management of pig production and breeding activities from birth to consumption.

Dr. Kieu Minh Luc, Director of the Breeding Center of CP Vietnam Livestock Joint Stock Company, said that this is a very progressive management solution for pork products that consumers are expecting. At present, this solution is considered perfect for the pork value chain from farm to consumer carried out by an enterprise, because of course that enterprise must be responsible to consumers for its pork products. However, in the case of a fragmented pork value chain with the participation of many enterprises, the legality of tracing the origin and responsibility of each enterprise in the value chain must be taken into account to ensure the rights of consumers.

According to Hoang Tuyet/baotintuc