The Ministry of Health required testing units to develop methods for identifying Cereulide toxins in milk and infant nutrition products to proactively detect risks and provide timely warnings.
The Ministry of Health recently sent a document to people's committees of provinces and cities regarding the enhancement of testing and monitoring capacity for food products. Accordingly, the Ministry of Health stated that recently, countries such as Germany, the UK, France, and Australia have recalled several batches of milk products suspected of being contaminated with Cereulide – a toxin produced by the bacterium Bacillus cereus, which can be harmful to health, especially children.
In order to proactively avert food safety incidents and safeguard consumer health, the Ministry of Health urges all provincial and municipal people's committees to instruct specialized agencies to promptly formulate plans for monitoring food available in the market, with an emphasis on milk and infant nutrition products, in alignment with the warnings issued by the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Health also requested that localities enhance the capacity of their testing systems to meet the requirements of food management, supervision, and post-inspection; in cases where substandard products are detected, they must be promptly recalled and warnings must be issued to inform the public and prevent their use to minimize the impact on public health.
To assist localities with the implementation of the aforementioned measures, the Ministry of Health has requested that its associated institutes, which include the National Institute of Food Safety and Hygiene Testing, the National Institute of Nutrition, the Pasteur Institute of Nha Trang, the Tay Nguyen Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, and the Institute of Public Health in Ho Chi Minh City, collaborate and offer professional guidance to these localities.
