Vegetables and meat top the list of toxic chemical residues

The above information was given by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at the online conference on food safety and hygiene of agriculture, forestry and fishery products held on April 4.

According to the Ministry, food safety inspection of agricultural products is conducted through monitoring and sampling, focusing on vegetables, fruits, tea, pork and chicken products.

These are high-risk products and have caused much public outrage. Monitoring and sampling results show that the rate of toxic chemical residues on vegetables and meat tops the list of agricultural products.

Specifically, in 2012, the rate of samples with pesticide residues in vegetables exceeding the permitted level tended to decrease but remained high at 96/1,200 samples (8%) - down from 106/1,500 samples in 2011.

Pork is on the list of foods containing highly toxic residues. Photo: DH

Regarding pork and chicken, the results of monitoring microbiological contamination in 2012 in 17 provinces and cities showed that microbiological contamination in slaughterhouses and meat trading establishments remained high. At pork trading establishments, 28/275 (10%) of the 2012 samples were found to be contaminated with Salmonella. At chicken trading establishments, 30.7% of the 2011 samples and 38.7% of the 2012 samples were found to be contaminated with Ecoli exceeding the permissible limit.

According to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Quality Management, the reason why vegetables and meat are still in the group with high toxic residues is because there are no specific regulations and instructions on implementing the monitoring program such as procedures, methods of sampling, preservation, delivery of samples, handling of monitoring results, the monitoring scope is still narrow, not covering all provinces and cities. In addition, the funding for the monitoring program is still "unstable" from year to year, sometimes early, sometimes late, making the program staff passive. Meanwhile, according to the leaders of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of many provinces such as Da Nang, An Giang..., the mechanism for coordinating inter-provincial monitoring is still loose, causing food to be imported into the locality "indiscriminately" (such as vegetables from Lam Dong, pork, chicken from the southern provinces).

At the conference, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat admitted that food safety violations are still high in the field of livestock and animal products. "Even with vegetables, the rate of pesticide contamination with residue exceeding the permitted level is still very high compared to developed countries in the world. There is still much work to be done and more efforts are needed to ensure uniformity and effectiveness in 2013," said Mr. Phat.

The head of the Ministry of Agriculture also set a general target of reducing the number of establishments violating food safety regulations by 10% compared to 2012. Strengthen supervision, inspection, and legal handling, with the highest level being the revocation of licenses. Chain management needs to be further promoted, including assessing risks and focusing on the most unsafe stages to avoid spreading.

According to Laodong-M