Vietnam reportedly witnesses 147 food poisoning cases this year, affecting 5,026 people and killing 33 others, the Thoi bao Kinh te newspaper reported, citing a health ministry official Dec. 25. Deputy Head of the Ministry of Health’s Food Hygiene and Safety Department Nguyen Thanh Phong said at a meeting in Hanoi on Dec. 24 that Vietnam recorded 60 deaths by food poisoning last year. At the meeting, the department warned of a three-fold increase of importing meat and products from animals that failed to meet the standards of food hygiene and safety in 2009.
