Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has urged to expand food safety and hygiene model programs in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and the central highlands province of Dak Lak. Addressing a recent online meeting, Le Truong Giang, deputy head of the HCM City Health Department, said the city set up a model for safe food chains two years ago, adding that local companies are required to ensure rules on food safety and hygiene, including breeding, slaughtering, water use, pesticides and delivery. Hanoi has carried out other methods, including closing down slaughterhouses that have failed to meet food safe rules. It has also offered soft loans to small slaughterhouses in the inner city to move them to outlying districts. The Food Safety and Hygiene Division in Dak Lak province has also set up a food poisoning prevention model in 14 kindergartens and two tourism areas in Buon Ma Thuot city. Such models have contributed to mitigating the food poisoning cases across the country, Nhan said, emphasizing that the necessity to expand them to other localities. The public awareness of food safety has been improved considerably over the past times thanks to propaganda campaigns, Nhan said, adding that the rate of food traders with food safety knowledge rose to 73% in 2010 from 65% in 2008, that of consumers with awareness of the issue also soared to 84.5% in 2010 from 65.5% in 2009 and that of food producers with 79.4% in 2010, versus 44.4% in 2009. However, some provincial authorities, especially at the grassroots level, have not imposed stiff punishments, he said, urging the ministries of Health, Public Security to issue stricter fines to the violators. Vietnam recorded 16 food poisoning cases between January and March, affecting over 442 people with five deaths, posting on-year decreases of 50%, 42.1% and 75%, respectively, the Vietnam Food Administration’s report showed. (Vietnam News April 21)
