Many large restaurants and hotels in Nghe An were fined for violating food safety.

Large hotels and restaurants were fined.

List and specific fines of 25 establishments violating food safety. Photo: Thanh Chung

Among the 25 establishments that violated the law, there are quite a few “big brands”. In Vinh city, there are the Da Garden Restaurant (Suiseki Stone Garden Business Household); Ngoc Chau 3 Restaurant (Ngoc Chau Trading and Service Company Limited - Ngoc Chau III Restaurant); Vinh Plaza Hotel (Branch of Vinh Plaza Trading Joint Stock Company); Avatar Hotel; Golden Cow Restaurant (Green Park Company Limited); Vietnamese Cuisine Restaurant (Vietnamese Cuisine Joint Stock Company); Saigon Broken Rice 66 Nguyen Van Cu (Tran Van Phan Business Household); Vietnamese Seafood Restaurant (Nguyen Thi Van Business Household).

In Dien Chau district, there is a Nem chua Ba Mien production facility (Ba Mien Production and Service Company Limited). In Quynh Luu district, there is Duc Tai Tam Dat Food and Entertainment Service Complex (Duc Tai Company Limited - Duc Tai Trading).

Duc Tai Tam Dat food and entertainment service complex is one of the violating establishments.

In Que Phong district, there is Tho Gioi Restaurant (Hoang Thi Hoa Business Household). In Hung Nguyen district, there is Vuon Xoai Restaurant (An Manh Trading and Service Company Limited). In Nam Dan district, there is Thuy Dong Restaurant (Nguyen Huu Dong Business Household).

Licensed without authority

During this inspection, in addition to inspecting food production, trading and processing establishments, the provincial interdisciplinary delegation also worked with the local Interdisciplinary Food Safety Steering Committees to specifically assess the state management of food safety in the localities.

Con Bo Vang Restaurant in Vinh city uses workers without gloves or masks.

In Vinh city, the business household Nguyen Thi Van - Viet Seafood Restaurant has been granted a certificate of food hygiene and safety by Vinh city. However, when inspecting, the interdisciplinary team discovered that this restaurant did not comply with the law on food sample storage (no food sample storage cabinet) - the minimum condition required to be granted a certificate of eligibility.

The certificate of eligibility was issued without specifying the date of issue. Photo: Thanh Chung

In Hung Nguyen district, Vuon Xoai Restaurant (An Manh Trading and Service Company Limited) is a large restaurant. To meet food hygiene and safety requirements, according to regulations, this restaurant must have a decision signed by the Nghe An Food Safety and Hygiene Department. However, the restaurant's current license is issued by the Hung Nguyen District People's Committee.

In addition to issuing the wrong certificate, the process from appraisal to licensing by the authorities of Hung Nguyen district is too long. The appraisal record was made on April 23, 2018; the certificate of eligibility was issued on November 28, 2018. There are also some certificates of food hygiene and safety eligibility issued by Hung Nguyen district that do not clearly state the date of issuance.

Vinh Plaza Hotel does not implement 3-step verification.

Need to be handled seriously

Information from the Interdisciplinary Inspection Team: The Team has sent a document to the Environmental Crime Prevention Police Department - Nghe An Provincial Police requesting investigation and strict handling of violations of the law (if any) of a food facility.

According to the dispatch: On March 6, 2018, when conducting an inspection at this facility, the interdisciplinary team discovered that the warehouse area contained 100 tons of rice in unlabeled packaging and some packaging labeled as animal feed. Some of the rice bags were torn. Much of the rice was old, moldy, and mixed with rat and insect droppings.

The interdisciplinary team suspects that this contaminated rice was sold to noodle shops. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The owner of the facility could not present documents proving the origin of the 100 tons of rice and declared that it was purchased from the people without any invoices or documents. The owner of the facility affirmed that all of the rice was only used to process food for his family's large farm.

However, through information gathering, it is known that this rice business has been operating for more than 20 years. Currently, the business still sells rice to vermicelli and rice noodle production facilities in Vinh city, Nam Dan district and Ha Tinh province. At the time of inspection, this family's farm did not raise pigs, chickens or any other livestock or poultry.

Due to the expiration of its term of operation, the inspection team has sent the case file and related evidence to the Environmental Crime Prevention Police Department for further investigation and handling./.