Food-safety violators will be fined, publicly outed

Supermarket and residential market food safety inspection results will be open to the public in 2015, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said on Wednesday.

Last year, more than 600 teams from the Ha Noi Department of Health collected VND3 billion (US$142,800) in fines during inspections of markets, shops and supermarket chains. — VNA/VNS (Photo: The Anh)

The names of food providers that violated food safety regulations and those that adhered to them would be made public to ensure customers' right to access to safe food, Long said.

In another effort to make food safer in 2015, the Ministry of Health planned a pilot programme, under which ward and commune inspection teams would be placed in Ha Noi and HCM City to examine food suppliers and deal with regulation violators.

"Those sub-district inspection teams will be granted the ability to impose direct fines on the violators," Long said. "This is a radical idea we are rushing to implement as soon as possible."

Sub-district inspectors would supplement inspection teams already in place at the national level, in the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Last year, more than 600 teams from the Ha Noi Department of Health collected VND3 billion (US$142,800) in fines during inspections of markets, shops and supermarket chains, said Department Deputy Director Hoang Duc Hanh.

The Ha Noi Department of Industry and Trade said it detected and handled 246 violations last year. It destroyed goods worth about VND1 billion ($47,600) and imposed fines of VND1.5 billion ($71,400).

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said 2015 had been named the Year of Food Safety to raise awareness about the need to control food product quality.

Related ministries would focus on reducing antibiotic and pesticide use in meat and vegetables sold in Ha Noi and HCM City, according to Nguyen Nhu Tiep, head of the agro-aqua-forestry Quality Assurance Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

(Source: Vietnamnews/SGGP)