Many risks of food insecurity at school gates

Many cakes, candies, and food products with no expiration date, foreign labels, and no additional stamps are sold at school gates.

At the gate of Thong Nhat Secondary School (Lao Cai City), there are two grocery stores selling cakes, candies, drinks and food for students. According to the reporter's observations, these two stores sell snacks, but many of the product packages do not have information in Vietnamese about the production date, expiration date, manufacturer... When the reporter asked about the information printed on the product packaging, the students all shook their heads, because all the information was written in Chinese.

Only when students try these products can they tell which is candy and which is cake. For example, the small paper-wrapped bars with fruit images on the outside look very eye-catching, but the information printed on them is entirely in Chinese. If you just look at them, you won’t understand what the product is, only when you try them will you know that it is chewing gum. Not only that, other products such as sausages and chicken feet packaged with Chinese labels are also sold a lot at these shops.

Do VC, a student, said: I saw my friends eating so I bought some to try. Each product costs from 1 to 5 thousand VND, I bought it with the money my parents gave me for breakfast.

IMG_4816 copy.jpg — Many products of unknown origin are sold at the gate of Le Van Tam Primary School, Kim Tan Ward.

At the gate of Le Van Tam Primary School, Kim Tan Ward (Lao Cai City), according to the reporter's records, there are up to 5 packaged food shops and 2 grilled sausage shops. The packaged food shops all sell many cakes, candies, and toys with Chinese labels. Notably, the 2 sausage shops do not cover the food to avoid dust and insects, including Chinese brand sausages.

Sausages sold at the school gate do not have refrigerators and wrapping film to ensure food safety.

Teacher Nguyen Thi Hoan, Vice Principal of Le Van Tam Primary School, said: Right from the beginning of the school year, the school has promoted and organized parents to sign a commitment not to let their children buy food of unknown origin at the school gate, and at the same time organized red flag teams to record the names of students who buy gifts at the school gate to promptly remind them. The school hopes that the authorities will take a closer look at the inspection and management of food products sold at the school gate.

Similarly, in the area of the Bat Xat Town Secondary School gate, there are also 2 grocery stores selling “3 no” items (no production date, no expiration date, unknown origin). At the above points of sale, when asked, the sellers all replied that the market management force had come to check, but because there were few items for sale, they were not handled or confiscated.

Some sellers even revealed that, to deceive the authorities, they only display a small amount of products for sale, and keep the rest at home to avoid being fined.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Tran Dinh Ngoc, Deputy Head of Lao Cai City Economic Department, said: In recent times, Lao Cai City has always paid attention to checking food safety at school gates. However, the city's interdisciplinary teams can only conduct inspections according to the plan 3 times/year. In addition, some sales establishments are assigned to the People's Committees of communes and wards to proactively inspect during the year.

To ensure food safety for students and consumers, we request that market management agencies increase inspections at points of sale at school gates, promptly detect and thoroughly handle goods of unknown origin.

Many types of sausages and fish cakes with Chinese labels are bought to be grilled and sold at school gates to students.

Currently, many vendors at school gates are taking advantage of small businesses to avoid inspection and handling by authorities to continue selling products of unknown origin. Authorities need to step up their efforts to promptly prevent food safety risks.

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