Less than a month since January 14, the Food Hygiene and Safety Department under the Ministry of Health has set up 10 inter-sector inspection teams to examine the implementation of food hygiene and safety regulations in provinces and cities throughout the country. A Radio Voice of Vietnam (VOV) reporter interviewed Head of the Food Hygiene and Safety Department Nguyen Cong Khan on this issue.

VOV: The Department has set up inspection teams to ensure food safety during the Traditional Lunar New Year Festival (Tet). Could you please elaborate on their activities?

Mr Khan: Implementing the Prime Minister’s Decree 67 on ensuring food hygiene and safety during Tet is a key task for the healthcare sector as well as other ministries and sectors. The decree says ensuring food hygiene safety is a daily practice that should be strictly observed.

Inspection teams from the Ministry of Health have closely coordinated with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Ministry of Public Security to intensify inspection activities in localities.

VOV: Do localities work with the relevant agencies to control food hygiene and safety during the Tet holiday?

Mr Khan: Many localities have sent inspection teams to communes to examine the origin of products, while the industry and trade sector have worked closely with functional agencies to detect counterfeit and substandard products. Local markets and supermarkets also have inspection teams involved in this task. After a little more than two weeks, positive results have been obtained.

VOV: What areas do the inspection teams focus on?

Mr Khan: They focus on cross-border import of products with unclear origins. The People’s Committees are dealing firmly with unclear origin products. Intense scrutiny is also being given to products believed to be much consumed during Tet such as milk, jams and confectionary products. Several substandard products have been destroyed or sealed for further analysis.

VOV: Could you tell us about some concrete results of the inspection campaign?

Mr Khan: According to preliminary statistics, thousands of inspections have been conducted. In Thai Binh province, more than 3,110 inspections were conducted in one month. Other key provinces and cities, like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, have regularly conducted inspections.

The media have reported only a few violations. Law on food hygiene and safety has been better observed than in previous years, but it is till far below expectations. The healthcare sector must make a greater effort to enforce food hygiene and safety rules throughout the production process, not just with regard to finished products.

VOV: Agencies often conduct inspections before the traditional Lunar New Year festival (Tet) but in fact the inspections do not often achieve desired results. How can we deal with the problem more effectively?

Mr Khan: There are a  number of measures to resolve this problem. With more than 9.4 million small-scale agricultural and food production enterprises, it is quite difficult to manage. There should be a Law on Food Hygiene and Safety which is expected to be approved at the National Assembly working session in 2010.

Vietnam is continuing to develop sanctions to fine violators severely and train more qualified inspectors. However, the key thing is to encourage localities to get actively involved in the effort because it will be difficult to obtain the desired results without the active involvement of localities.

VOV: Thank you very much.