Vietnam President Calls for Social Campaign against Unsafe Food

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang has called on citizens to join state agencies to deal with unsafe food in a bid to protect consumers’ health. Not only the government is responsible for dealing with unsafe food but all citizens also have their duties to cope with the issue, Quang said at a meeting with voters in Ho Chi Minh city on Oct 4. The government is implementing specific program while the food safety is one of prioritized supervision programs of the parliament, Quang told the participants of the meeting. “We need to make social campaigns to slam those who produce and trade unsafe food,” Quang said. Food safety is a thorny issue in Vietnam due to corrupted state officials, observers said. Between Dec 17, 2015 and Sept 17, 2016, Vietnam had 100 food poisoning cases affecting 3,025 people and killing nine individuals, according to the government’s statistics. The real number of victims may be higher. (hanoimoi.com.vn Oct 4)