Six food safety inspector missions have been set up to ensure thequality of products for the Mid-Autumn Festival which begins next month.

Deputy Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan's decision torandomly inspect food production will take place between August 22 andSeptember 22, and comes in light of widespread violations of food safetylast year.

Director of the Ministry of Health's VietnamFood Administration Nguyen Cong Khan said the inspectors will takebetween 10 and 40 random samples from large enterprises andsupermarkets, and small and medium-sized businesses and markets will bechecked by inspectors at the district level.

"If theinspectors detect any serious violation, they must report to the VFAwithin two days thus the VFA can submit the case to the Prime Minister,"Khan said.

Inspection results must be reported to the VFAbefore September 25 and offending enterprises will be fined up to 100million VND (4,870 USD) based on their levels of violation, he said.

The missions will include inspectors from a number of ministriesincluding health, industry and trade, agriculture and rural development,and will check the quality of ingredients, materials, workingconditions and advertising in a range of products.

Mooncakes, sweets, liquor, soft drink and meat are among the popularproducts inspectors will target in towns and provinces across thecountry including Hanoi , HCM City , Dong Nai, Binh Duong, TayNinh and Bac Giang.

Officials in HCM City suspended21 out of 97 moon cake producers in 2010 for violating food safetyregulations in the lead up to the festival.

Violator PhamNguyen Confectionary Joint-stock Company in Binh Tan district did nothave any food safety certification for their materials, healthcertificates for workers or food safety training certification./.