Cautious of substandard food

How to deal with violations in food hygiene and safety remains a thorny problem for functional agencies.

It is predicted that consumption demands during the Traditional Lunar New Year Festival (Tet) will increase 25-30 times above normal, thus providing a good chance for traders to launch fake or substandard goods to the market. This has raised public concerns as Tet holiday is nearing.

According to reporters, products of unclear origin and use-by-date are being sold in big volumes in Hanoi’s major markets, such as Kim Lien, Thanh Cong and Nghia Tan.

At the downtown market of Dong Xuan, many big unpackaged bags of jam, dried and salted apricot, and nuts without brand names and use-by-date are being left on the ground. Taking advantage of the rising purchasing power, dishonest traders have mixed out-of-date products with new ones or erased old original brandnames and stuck new ones to deceive consumers.

According to a market expert, “date removing” technology is very sophisticated so consumers find it difficult to discriminate between fake and real goods.

Note of worth is that goods without brand names are even sold at some supermarkets in Hanoi. At Hoang Mai Metro supermarket, a food hygiene and safety examination team has detected a sample of vegetables which contains pesticide residue at the level exceeding the permissible maximum.

At a self-serve shop at the Thang Long International Village, two samples of vegetables were discovered containing Nitorat at the level 2-5 times higher than permissible. Meanwhile, at the Van Ho supermarket, fruits of different kinds, such as grapes, mangos, apples and mandarins, also have no brand names.

Over the past time, functional agencies throughout the country have detected cases of transporting, storing and trading out-of-date products without product control certification.

Recently, Hanoi market management group No 2 in coordination with economic police of Hoan Kiem district has discovered and seized a batch of two tonnes of food without clear origin.

In this situation, the Food Hygiene and Safety Department, from now until Tet, will dispatch six examination delegations to Hanoi, HCM City, border provinces and border gates to ensure food hygiene and safety of cakes, jams, candy, meat and other products of animal origin.

Although food hygiene and safety is a major public concern, the problem is still out of control. The issue only comes into focus when there are epidemics or on special occasions such as Tet holiday but afterwards all return to normal. – VOV

Tags: Vietnam food