Authorities seize alcohol without clear origin (Photo: VNA) In Ho Chi Minh City, the municipal People’sCommittee formed an interdisciplinary working group to perform State managementover food safety and conduct inspections on producing, processing and tradingfacilities.
Pham Khanh Phong Lan, head of the municipal FoodSafety Management Committee, said the city will strengthen the control ofalcohol’s origin as well as wine using industrial alcohol.
Meanwhile, Vice Chairwoman of the municipal People’sCommittee Nguyen Thi Thu asked authorized agencies to strictly handle violationsin the field.
Meanwhile, at a launching ceremony for the action month in thecentral city of Da Nang, the city’s People’s Committee called on all sectors,organizations and localities in the city to coordinate closely in popularizingknowledge and law on food safety among the public, while implementing measuresto prevent food and alcohol poisoning.
According to Nguyen Dinh Phuc, Vice Director of the municipalDepartment for Industry and Trade, the city currently has 300 small-scale wine producingfacilities, only three of which have been licenced to make home-made wine andtwo 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 andindividuals, he said.
Phuc added that the majority of the facility use backwardequipment and technology, failing to meet food safety standards, while the cityhas faced many difficulties in tackling fake wine.
During the month, six inspection teams will be setup to check food safety in 12 provinces and cities – Hanoi, Hung Yen, HCM Cityand Ben Tre, as well as Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Dak Lak and Gia Lai, along with QuangNam, Da Nang, Ninh Thuan and Phu Yen.
The Vietnam Food Association said the actionmonth will focus on preventing the use of chemical substances and industrialalcohol in producing liquor, preventing the use of banned substances inbreeding 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 safetyand hygiene.
Northern mountainous Lao Cai Province has set upan inspection team to check food safety in 10 communes in Bac Ha, Bat Xat, MuongKhuong, Van Ban and Sa Pa districts.
All the communes are located along the borderwhere ethnic Ha Nhi, Mong and Dao minorities reside, whose awareness on foodsafety is limited.
The inspection team also gave guidance on foodsafety to communes’ health stations and took liquor samples from liquor shopsfor testing.
In the northern province of Ha Nam, during thefirst three months of this year, 134 inspection teams were founded, whichchecked nearly 1,500 food enterprises. A total of 975 enterprises adhered tonorms related to food safety, 518 others violated the norms and 72 were finedmore than 148 million VND (6,500 USD). - VNA
VNA
