Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Duong Anh Duc speaks at the meeting (Photo: SGGP)
He made the statement at a meeting with the Food Safety and Hygiene Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City on the implementation plan and assignment of tasks in 2022 on March 2.
Mr. Duc emphasized the pilot scheme of the Food Safety Management Board establishment will end on April 1, 2023; therefore, the Board should immediately set up a working group responsible for coordinating with relevant departments and agencies to remove difficulties and legal problems in order to soon submit to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City a preliminary and summary plan of its work after six-year establishment.
This summary plan must be completed no later than the third quarter of 2022 so that the City People's Committee will propose the establishment of a specialized food safety agency under the City People's Committee to the City Party Committee and the Prime Minister.
Representatives of departments also expressed concern about food hygiene and safety on streets and spontaneous markets.
According to the report of the Food Safety and Hygiene Management Board, in 2021, its staff have paid visits and post-inspected nearly 20,000 food production and trading establishments discovering lots of violations. Inspectors have issued administrative fines collecting a total amount of tens of billions of dong and forced violators to destroy 80 tons of products.
In addition, the board also coordinated with the interdisciplinary inspection team to prevent and control livestock and poultry diseases in the city, detecting 40 violations of quarantine and veterinary regulations during transportation.
