Vietnam has yet to set up quality control centres at border gates to check safe quality standards of imported farm produce coming into Vietnam, and is still lacking in quality checks of vegetables being exported to EU countries, with some consignments having been rejected recently.
According to the Agro-Forestry-Fishery Quality Management Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam now imports many kinds of farm produce. However residents are anxious of the quality and safety of these products, most of which are imported from China.
According to scientists, to know if vegetables or fruits contain any chemicals, the first step is to determine which kind of chemical which product might have, and then use appropriate agents for testing.
At the time being, Vietnam might be able to test over 30 kinds of chemicals in vegetables and fruits, while the total number reaches into the hundreds.
For the last several years, organisations under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have proposed setting up testing centres at border gates to control quality of imported farm produce. However they have as yet not been implemented.
At present, the imported farm produce is only quarantined and examined for being safe and hygienic at border gates
While the quality of imported farm produce into Vietnam has still no standard procedures, vegetable consignments from Vietnam to the EU countries have been rejected and returned for banned pesticide content.
Nguyen Xuan Hong, head of the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture, admitted that three consignments of herbs have been rejected since the beginning of the year.
EU countries have warned that if more consignments of vegetables containing the thrip, whitefly, leaf miner bugs and xanthomonas campestris bacteria are sent from Vietnam, they will stop importing farm produce from this country in future.
The Plant Protection Department has hence established an inspectorate to examine the quarantine process of farm produce.
Besides, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is also preparing a draft about the strict conditions to follow in exporting vegetables and fruits to the EU market.
