A new draft law on cooking safety fails to delegate specific responsibilities and neglects street food and functional foods.

“People need to know exactly who’s in charge,” she said.

Mai said the draft, written by the Ministry of Health, still failed to address the fact that many food producers were advertising functional foods as medicines.

Functional foods are broadly defined as food products that have specific health benefits outside of simply supplying nutrients.

Dang Vu Minh, chairman of the Science, Technology and Environment Committee, agreed with Mai by saying that the draft should better regulate the production, sale and import of functional foods.

He said the draft also failed to make local governments responsible for street foods.

Minh and Le Thi Thu Ba, head of the Justice Committee, agreed with a clause in the draft that suggests grouping health officials into inspection teams specializing in food safety.

The Science, Technology and Environment Committee said the draft should guarantee tight management throughout the entire food process.

It said that from the food’s manufacture to its distribution and consumption, the fewest number of agencies and officials possible should be involved.

Vietnam spent VND329 billion (US$18.4 million) during the 2004-2008 period managing food safety, an equivalent of VND780 per capita a year, according to figures from the government.

The expenditure matched one 19th of Thailand’s and one 136th of that in the the US.

VietNamNet/TN