Increased penalties for putting impurities in seafood

In the draft Decree regulating administrative penalties for violations of food safety, the Ministry of Health proposed increasing the penalty for the act of directly adding impurities to aquatic products by 10 times compared to the current level.

According to Decree No. 178/2013/ND-CP, fines range from 300,000 VND to 500,000 VND for acts of directly introducing impurities into aquatic products. In the draft, the Ministry of Health proposed to increase this fine tenfold to 3 - 5 million VND.

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In addition, the Ministry also proposed to amend and supplement regulations on fines for acts of introducing impurities into aquatic products, collecting, pre-processing, preserving, processing, and trading aquatic products containing impurities. Specifically, supplement regulations on penalties for acts of violating food safety conditions in preserving and trading aquatic products (aquatic and seafood products with changed color and taste; frozen, without packaging; dried aquatic products, steamed aquatic products...) containing preservatives that are prohibited chemicals according to one of the following levels:

Fines of 30 - 50 million VND for violations of food safety conditions in the preservation and trading of aquatic products (aquatic and seafood products with altered color and taste; frozen, without packaging; dried aquatic products, steamed aquatic products...) containing preservatives that are prohibited chemicals and the value of the violating food product is less than 10 million VND. In cases where the value of the violating food product is from 10 - 100 million VND and criminal liability is not prosecuted, a fine of 50 - 100 million VND will be imposed.

In addition, the Ministry of Health has proposed to maintain some fines, such as: A fine of 5-10 million VND for the act of transporting aquatic products containing impurities, except in cases permitted by competent state agencies; a fine of 10-20 million VND for the act of hiring others to transport aquatic products containing impurities, except in cases permitted by competent state agencies; a fine of 30-50 million VND for the act of collecting, preserving, and trading aquatic products containing impurities due to being introduced; a fine of 70-100 million VND for the act of organizing the introduction of impurities into aquatic products or the preliminary processing and processing of aquatic products containing impurities due to being introduced.

According to Chinhphu.vn