The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will assistVietnam in implementing its national strategy on food hygiene, saidSenior Food Safety and Nutrition Officer of FAO Regional Office for theAsia and Pacific, Shashi Sareen.

At a seminar held inHanoi on July 30 to review the project “Capacity Building forthe Food Inspection System in Vietnam”, Sareen said FAO has providedtechnical assistance through the project to Vietnam’s ministeriallevel agencies to improve food hygiene inspection.

Atpresent, FAO is helping Vietnam and other ASEAN nations devisenational standards on food hygiene and safety in compliance withinternational standards, she said.

Deputy Minister of Public Health Nguyen Thanh Long said the project is a rare one in food investigation.

The 790,500 USD project was carried out from 2009 to July 2012,providing training to inspectors of the three food safety relatedsectors of public health, agriculture and rural development, andindustry and trade. It also helped draft a decree on dealing with foodsafety violations and revised regulations in the fields.

However, Long said, violations in food safety and hygiene remain a challenge.

He proposed the Government and management ministries issue the decreeon food safety and hygiene as soon as possible, and do more to improvethe food inspection force in terms of both quantity and quality.-VNA