HCM City pilots two safe food markets
The HCM City People’s Committee has approved a pilot programme to sell safe food at two traditional markets -- Ben Thanh Market and the Hoc Mon Wholesale Market in the district of the same name.
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The Hoc Mon market is the largest pork supplier in the city, accounting for 50-55 percent of the city’s total demand, while Ben Thanh is a symbol of the traditional Vietnamese market and gets an average of 10,000 visitors a day.
The sellers selected for the pilot programme have to meet three basic criteria – having a business licence and a food safety and hygiene certificate and ensuring clear product origins.
The Food Safety Management Board said it would work with relevant departments to guide the sellers and closely monitor their business activities to impose sanctions on those violating food safety regulations.
A team of 14 officials from the board will be sent to the Hoc Mon market to monitor the safe food operation.
They will work with the market’s management to monitor the tracking of the origin of pork under a programme launched a few months ago by the Department of Industry and Trade.
For vegetables and fruits, the team will help sellers set up a record system to track information about the sources of the products entering and leaving the market.
Ben Thanh Market will be monitored by its own management, which will organise training courses in tracing pork origin and food safety regulations for sellers.-
