Nghe An: 504 food production and trading establishments violated regulations during the Lunar New Year

(Baonghean.vn) - Implementing the plan of the Central and Provincial Inter-sectoral Steering Committee on food safety and hygiene inspection during the Lunar New Year, from February 3 to February 25, 2013 (ie December 23 to January 16), inter-sectoral inspection teams on food safety and hygiene will be deployed at 3 routes in Nghe An province.

The delegations inspected 8,629 out of 15,194 establishments producing and trading in various types of food. The results revealed 1,650 establishments violating the law, accounting for 19.12%, and recorded and handled 504 establishments, fined 103 establishments with a total fine of 47.05 million VND. Of which, 01 ham production establishment in Dong Vinh ward (Vinh city) was closed, and goods worth 100 million VND were destroyed; 32 establishments had their products suspended from circulation; 285 establishments had their products destroyed; confectionery, jam, melon seeds, wine, MSG... worth 60 million VND were destroyed; 121 establishments and types of products had violations regarding labels.

According to Mr. Dao Trong Dung - Head of the Food Safety and Hygiene Department, the good news during this year's Lunar New Year is that people can celebrate safely, and the whole province has not recorded any cases of food poisoning. However, due to the large area, the scale of food production and business is often small and unstable, the economic conditions are difficult, and awareness is limited, so inspection and supervision are very difficult. Therefore, in the coming time, although the Lunar New Year has passed, it is still the festival season, the authorities and localities need to strengthen communication to the people, especially those who directly participate in food processing at festival sites and families to limit and avoid unfortunate cases of food poisoning.

Nguyen Hai