On January 6, 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development coordinated with the city’s People’s Committee. Hanoi held a conference to review 2022 and implement the 2023 plan on food quality and safety.

IMPLEMENTATION OF DOUBLE FOOD SAFETY TARGETS

Nguyen Nhu Tiep, director of the Quality Management Department of Agroforestry and Fisheries, said that in 2022, managing agricultural product quality and ensuring food safety will focus on achieving two goals. This is to help protect people’s health and interests; Improving the quality, value and competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural, forestry and fishery products in domestic and international markets.

From the beginning of 2022 to date, the entire agricultural sector has inspected 27,574 farms that produce and trade agricultural materials and agricultural, forestry and fishery products and administratively sanctioned 2,244 farms with a fine of VND20.14 billion.

“In 2022, the Ministry directed the organization to implement projects and programs on agricultural production in accordance with VietGAP, organic, circulation and food safety control from the source and linking production to consumption, and a supply chain of high-quality and safe agricultural products for the Develop domestic consumption and export,” said Mr. Tiep.

For seafood quality control, the Agroforestry and Fisheries Quality Management Department collected 2,916 samples of farmed seafood in 2022 to monitor food hygiene and safety, and discovered 49 contaminated samples of 1.39% in 2021); 5/350 samples of mussels with detected microorganisms (E. coli) accounted for 1.42% (down from 1.7% in 2021).

The Plant Protection Agency said that last year this agency took food safety surveillance samples for imported food of plant origin and found 6/647 samples of non-compliance (corresponding to 0.92%); To collect 300 samples to control fertilizer and pesticide residues for some agricultural products for Vietnam’s export in 2022 (analysis results are not yet available).

According to the Department of Animal Health, this agency took 1,909 samples to monitor some exported products (bees, chicken meat, raw milk) and 1,380 samples to monitor food safety for imported animal products to detect food safety violations.

In addition, last year 962 samples of pork and chicken meat for self-consumption were collected and analyzed, with 128 samples found to be in violation of microbiological criteria and 1 sample to be found in violation of heavy metals (corresponding to 13.4%).

Units also signed commitments to ensure food safety, accumulated so far for 89% of small agricultural, forestry and fisheries manufacturing and business operations (vs. 82%). The percentage of operations assessed and maintained to meet food safety requirements (rated A/B) is 98.3% (up from 94.87% in 2021).

MANY MORE DIFFERENT GASTRONOMY

However, the dirty food situation in many provinces and cities is still complicated, according to delegates at the seminar.

On December 14, 2022, Market Management Team No. 9 (Hanoi Market Management Department) and Team 5 of Environmental Police Department (Hanoi City Police Department) discovered and confiscated nearly two tons of pork belly and chicken eggs, which have no invoices and documents for the origin and provenance, not for ensure veterinary hygiene.

On December 12, 2022, the No. 2 market management team (Yen Bai Provincial Market Management Department) coordinated with the prevention team to fight cases of smuggling, counterfeit goods and intellectual property infringement under the investigation police department. Crimes related to corruption, economy , smuggling , Yen Bai Provincial Police checked car BKS 29H-817.30 driven and spotted by Nguyen Ngoc Dung (address: Lam Giang Township, Van Yen District, Yen Bai Province). Labels, no invoices and documents proving legal origin…

On December 25, 2022, in the territory of Trieu Loc commune (Hau Loc district, Thanh Hoa province), traffic police discovered to be allowed to control truck BKS 89C-15165 and discovered the vehicle with 1.4 tons of frozen pig skin, signs of rancidity , color change, no papers to prove provenance or provenance.

These are some typical cases that have been discovered, but in fact you can see that food of unknown origin is still showing up in many markets and street restaurants.

Mr Nguyen Ngoc Son, director of the Hanoi Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, said that at present, in many provinces and cities, the situation of small-scale livestock farming is still quite high, many places have no slaughterhouses, concentrated livestock and poultry, making the tracing of the Origin and provenance of the products made more difficult.

In order to thoroughly deal with this situation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development must continue to review and perfect policies, laws, standards and technical regulations on quality management of agricultural materials to ensure safety.

At the same time, communities need to strengthen their food quality and safety management capacity, focus on processing and develop markets to meet the demands of the new situation. Promote the application of information technology and digital technology in the management and traceability of the quality of agricultural and food products.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam, who chaired the conference, said the industry’s output value will rise 3.36% in 2022 and exports of agroforestry and fisheries will exceed US$53.22 billion -dollars would be. In particular, the contribution of work to ensure food hygiene and safety for the origin of goods exported to other countries is very large.

“The number of exported products returned due to antibiotic and chemical abuse has decreased compared to previous years. The question of traceability, the assignment of growing area codes and ensuring food safety were implemented at the same time. In the communities,” Vice Minister Nam affirmed, stressing that in 2022 the Party Central Committee Secretariat issued Guideline No. 17-CT/TW on Strengthening Ensuring Food Safety and Security in the Current Situation. We must accept Rule 17 with a new spirit to protect the health of the breed.

Speaking of the upcoming Lunar New Year, Deputy Minister Nam said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has instructed and set up teams to inspect work to ensure food hygiene and safety in major cities. The inspection shows that the results are good, the source of goods is guaranteed to be fully supplied by the Lunar New Year.

“In supermarkets, food hygiene and safety are guaranteed for over 90% of goods. The issue that needs attention at present is ensuring food hygiene and safety for Tet in the system of traditional markets, the wholesale market,” Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam noted.