City tests popularity of organic food stores

HCM City will set up a chain of shops selling organic food this year under a pilot food management project that is awaiting the Government’s approval.

The project envisages producing meat, fish, and vegetables within a loop where everything – breeding, feed, slaughter, the use of water, pesticides, veterinary medicines, and even delivery – is controlled.

The products will meet the Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices (VietGap) standards and come with packaging identifying them as belonging to the organic food supply chain.

“All production processes will be marked in a way that allows managers to easily trace the origin of a product and know who is responsible for quality,” Truong Thanh Cong, a senior official at the Department of Health’s Food Hygiene and Safety Division, said.

Cong said for a vegetable to meet VietGap standards, it will be checked for 20 different factors, including climate, terrain, water resources, seeds, and pesticides.

At present, foods are produced, processed, distributed, and checked by different authorities from agriculture, health, industry, and trade agencies.

In this project, the department will be the sole authority monitoring the produce at all stages.

“The project is meant to unify oversight and ensure safe food for customers,” Huynh Le Thai Hoa, the head of the division, said.

It will be regulated by the provisions of the Food Hygiene and Safety Law that took effect last July.

“The law does not force but encourages every farmer and firm to join the chain,” Hoa said.

He believed that by 2015 the project will prove successful enough for it to be replicated throughout the country.

“Customers will only use hygienic and safe foods, while enterprises can strengthen their brand names in the market at the same time,” he pointed out.

But he admitted there will be teething troubles because the few producers that exist now, mostly households, are small while the cost of VietGap assessment and operation is high.

“Producing organic food is expensive, making it difficult to sell,” he said.

However, with rising concern about the widespread sale of unsafe food, he felt it is the right time for the organic food industry to expand.

“We must develop the model. It will help enterprises grow and customers will know where they can find safe food.”

It is a good sign that many food companies have expressed interest and signed up for the project, he added.

In the last five years, organic agriculture has grown at 20 per cent annually and this rapid growth is expected to continue. — VNS

Tags: organic food stores