The HCM City’s People’s Committee
yesterday, April 14, launched the Month of Action for Food Safety and Hygiene 2011
throughout the city.

Customers buy cooking at Co-op Market in HCM City. The city yesterday launched the Action Month for Food Safety and Hygiene to raise public awareness in food production, trade and consumption. (Photo: VNS)

Hua Ngoc Thuan,
deputy chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, called on food

manufacturers, processing enterprises and traders to obey safety
and hygiene regulations by using raw materials and additives that have a
certified origin and quality.

Consumers should
purchase food with proper packaging and labels, including place of origin at
reputable shops, Thuan said.

Inspection of food
safety and hygiene will also be stepped up, with strict enforcement of
regulations and fines, he said.

More than 70 per cent
of food

manufacturers and traders in the city are certified as meeting
food safety and hygiene standards.

The number of
food-poisoning incidents among workers in industrial parks and export processing
zones has declined to 13 cases of food poisoning, which hospitalised 734 workers
last year, from 22 cases with 1,002 workers involved in 2009.

The city has managed
to prevent outbreaks of food-borne diseases, particularly cholera, by improving
inspections of food safety and hygiene.

However, the origin
of raw materials for food manufacturing and processing has not been controlled
well because of the poor management capacity of agencies and departments.

The new Food Safety
Law, which becomes effective at the beginning of July, will improve efficiency
of management on food safety and hygiene.

In response to the
law, traders at Binh Tay Market in District 6 pledged to comply with food safety
and hygiene regulations, according to Tran Thi Men, deputy head of the market’s
Management Board.

All 744 food traders
in Binh Tay Market have been granted safety and hygiene certificates.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News