Nghe An: 539 establishments fined billions of dong for violating food safety regulations

On the morning of April 8, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development held a conference to deploy the "Month of action for food safety" in 2019. Attending the conference were leaders of the departments: Agriculture and Rural Development, Health, Industry and Trade, Food Safety and Hygiene Department, Environmental Police Department (Provincial Police); Vice Chairmen of People's Committees of districts, towns and cities.

Overview of the conference. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Inspected 3,568 establishments, administratively fined 2.5 billion VND

The report of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: In 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, units under the Department of Agriculture organized 196 training courses on quality management, food safety of agricultural, forestry and fishery products for over 7,000 trainees; built a model of 8 production and supply chains of safe vegetables, fruits and clean chicken according to VietGAP standards; built, managed and maintained the operation of 56 centralized slaughterhouses. The number of livestock and poultry controlled for slaughter averaged over 1,000 pigs, 100 buffaloes and cows and 1,500 poultry/day.

The units under the Department have deployed inspection teams according to their management areas. As a result, 3,568 establishments have been inspected and administratively sanctioned with a total fine of nearly 2.5 billion VND.

However, through assessment, it is shown that the management of quality and food safety still has many limitations. The statistics of production and trading establishments of agricultural, forestry and fishery products in some districts and towns are not timely and accurate.

Authorities inspect food safety at Tam Nong Cooperative in Vinh City. Photo courtesy

Say no to fake, poor quality food

The food safety situation is still complicated: the use of banned substances in food production and trading still occurs in many places; food of unknown origin and origin, not ensuring safety, is still circulating in the market; processing technology is outdated... Therefore, in the "Month of action for food safety" in 2019, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development takes the theme "Say no to fake food, poor quality food, protect consumer rights".

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will continue to provide training on food safety knowledge for managers, producers, and traders of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products; strengthen sampling, prioritizing vegetable, meat, and fishery products to monitor chemical indicators, antibiotics, and banned pesticides outside the list of crops, livestock, and aquaculture; and quality and food safety indicators in pre-processed and processed products.

Authorities inspect food safety and hygiene in Cua Lo town. Photo courtesy

Priority communication subjects in the “Month of action for food safety” are organizations and individuals producing and trading food; authorities at all levels, agencies, border guards, customs; and food consumers.

“Action Month for Agricultural Food Safety” was implemented at all levels from April 15 to May 15 across the province. Therefore, immediately after this conference, localities immediately deployed effective and practical implementation plans to protect the interests of food consumers.

Mr. Tran Huu Tien - Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development

At the conference, delegates expressed some opinions: The staff implementing food safety is mainly part-time, lacking initiative in the implementation process. State management of food production and trading entities is not good. Therefore, the province needs to have a policy to conduct statistics on food trading establishments in localities, and functional agencies need to inspect and control food products from the source, in order to limit the sale of dirty food to the market.