Authorities seize alcohol without clear origin (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – An on
food safety was launched on April 15 in various localities across the country,
focusing on producing, trading and using safe food and preventing liquor
poisoning.
In Ho Chi Minh City, the municipal People’s
Committee formed an interdisciplinary working group to perform State management
over food safety and conduct inspections on producing, processing and trading
facilities.
Pham Khanh Phong Lan, head of the municipal Food
Safety Management Committee, said the city will strengthen the control of
alcohol’s origin as well as wine using industrial alcohol.
Meanwhile, Vice Chairwoman of the municipal People’s
Committee Nguyen Thi Thu asked authorized agencies to strictly handle violations
in the field.
Meanwhile, at a launching ceremony for the action month in the
central city of Da Nang, the city’s People’s Committee called on all sectors,
organizations and localities in the city to coordinate closely in popularizing
knowledge and law on food safety among the public, while implementing measures
to prevent food and alcohol poisoning.
According to Nguyen Dinh Phuc, Vice Director of the municipal
Department for Industry and Trade, the city currently has 300 small-scale wine producing
facilities, only three of which have been licenced to make home-made wine and
two others to produce wine with the production line.
The department has granted licences to 24 wine trading firms,
and while wards and districts have also licensed other 428 organisations and
individuals, he said.
Phuc added that the majority of the facility use backward
equipment and technology, failing to meet standards, while the city
has faced many difficulties in tackling fake wine.
During the month, six inspection teams will be set
up to check food safety in 12 provinces and cities – Hanoi, Hung Yen, HCM City
and Ben Tre, as well as Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Dak Lak and Gia Lai, along with Quang
Nam, Da Nang, Ninh Thuan and Phu Yen.
The Vietnam Food Association said the action
month will focus on preventing the use of chemical substances and industrial
alcohol in producing liquor, preventing the use of banned substances in
breeding and using plant protection substances in vegetables and fruits.
In response to the action month, so far,
different provinces and cities have conducted measures to ensure food safety
and hygiene.
Northern mountainous Lao Cai Province has set up
an inspection team to check food safety in 10 communes in Bac Ha, Bat Xat, Muong
Khuong, Van Ban and Sa Pa districts.
All the communes are located along the border
where ethnic Ha Nhi, Mong and Dao minorities reside, whose awareness on food
safety is limited.
The inspection team also gave guidance on food
safety to communes’ health stations and took liquor samples from liquor shops
for testing.
In the northern province of Ha Nam, during the
first three months of this year, 134 inspection teams were founded, which
checked nearly 1,500 food enterprises. A total of 975 enterprises adhered to
norms related to food safety, 518 others violated the norms and 72 were fined
more than 148 million VND (6,500 USD). – VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
