Vietnam reported 88 food poisoning cases since early this year, killing 32 people and affecting nearly 3,000 others, Deputy Head of the Food Hygiene and Safety Department Nguyen Thanh Phong said. Compared to the same period of last year, the number of cases and fatalities increased respectively 35.38% and 14.29%, the state-run Vietnam News Agency said July 28, citing Phong. Vietnam witnessed 24 food poising cases, claiming 11 lives, during the action month for food hygiene and safety started April 15. Vietnamese authorities detected 52,000 food establishments out of inspected 210,000 ones violating the regulations on food hygiene and safety during the month, Phong added. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that the Southeast Asian country loses VND340 billion ($17.8 million) a year on the issue.
