Sao Mai Kindergarten in Bac Ninh city in the northern province of Bac Ninh ensures food safety for students’ lunch. (Photo: VNA) In the plan, the ministry said that food security and safety hasreceived the attention and direction from the whole political system fromcentral to grassroots levels.
Legal documents on food safety management have been reviewed andsupplemented to meet the requirements of domestic management and internationalintegration.
Awareness and responsibility of authorities, organisations,business establishments and the people about food safety have changedpositively.
Organic raw material areas and safe food supply chains have beenformed.
However, ensuring food safety still has many shortcomings andlimitations.
Many business establishments have violated regulations on foodsafety. Cross-border food smuggling, false food supplement advertising andplant protection drug abuse have complicated developments. Food safety inindustrial parks and schools has not been ensured.
As the COVID-19 pandemic is still a high risk, import markets havemore technical regulations. Besides food safety regulations, they addedregulations for COVID-19 prevention and control.
Thus consumption of agricultural, forestry and fishery productsfaces many difficulties.
Recognising that food security and safety is an important, urgentand long-term issue that directly affects people's health, the Secretariatissued Directive No. 17-CT/TW on October 21 last year on strengthening foodsecurity and safety.
To put the directive into practice, and further strengthen theroles and responsibilities of organisations and the people, the central inter-sectoralsteering committee for food safety, of which Minister Lan is deputy head, chosethe title for the action month for food safety this year "Ensuring foodsecurity and safety in the new situation".
The action month’s purpose is to raise awareness and theresponsibilities of all people in food safety.
The action month highlights the roles of organisations,individuals and enterprises while following the law on food safety.
It updates information on safe, high-quality food supply chains,violated establishments, and potential risks of food insecurity and unsafety.
During the month from April 15 to May 15, inspectors willstrengthen supervision of food security and safety, and strictly handleorganisations, individuals and businesses that violate regulations on foodsecurity and safety.
In the month, a communication campaign will be launched to spreadregulations on food safety in food production and trading, and limit foodpoisoning.
The national action month on food safety will start in the middleof next month./.
VNA
