This morning, January 9, at the Government Headquarters, Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long, Head of the Central Inter-sectoral Steering Committee on Food Safety, chaired a meeting of the Steering Committee to summarize the work in 2024 and key tasks in 2025.
Number of establishments fined increased nearly 3 times
The Ministry of Health said that in 2024, the health sector inspected 354,820 establishments and discovered 22,073 establishments violating food safety (FS), accounting for 6.22% of the number of establishments inspected. The number of establishments fined increased 2.9 times compared to 2023, and the amount of fines increased 1.69 times.
Police forces have prosecuted 62 cases (an increase of nearly 88%) with 97 defendants (an increase of more than 185%).
According to the Ministry of Health, the system of legal documents on food safety continues to be improved, meeting the requirements of state management on food safety.
Inspection and examination work is carried out in a focused manner on specific cases, limiting spreading; from the central to local levels, with the participation of all levels and functional sectors, many violations in various forms have been promptly detected, prevented and handled, ensuring compliance with the law, and timely publicized on mass media to help people have information to choose safe food.
However, the Ministry of Health believes that food safety inspection, examination and post-inspection work only meets part of the actual requirements.
Opinions suggest that it is necessary to promote propaganda about sanctions to change people's awareness, such as the propaganda of Decree 168 on sanctions in the field of traffic safety. It is necessary to identify the work of detecting, preventing, and handling criminal cases related to food safety as a key and breakthrough work to deter and reduce food safety crimes.
Along with the strong development of information technology, e-commerce, online business, the characteristics of this type of business are no fixed business location, anonymity, unreal name, this causes many difficulties in controlling the origin and quality of products.
Opinions suggest that it is necessary to promote digital transformation and build a database on food safety.
Strengthening inter-sectoral inspection and examination from the central to communal levels, focusing on product groups consumed a lot during Tet and festivals with high risk factors, food processing villages, provinces with border gates, and large cities.
Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said that propaganda is a fundamental solution, especially in changing people's awareness. He also said that it is necessary to increase the fine level to increase deterrence. Deputy Minister Do Xuan Tuyen said that the Ministry of Health has built a database on food safety and at the same time hopes that ministries and branches that are members of the Steering Committee will update data into this system.
Research on increasing sanctions
Concluding the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister highly appreciated the opinions of the Steering Committee members and acknowledged that in 2024, ministries, branches and agencies have made great efforts and achieved quantifiable results, from the work of drafting legal documents, directives and management documents to the implementation of programs and projects. The authorities have increased the frequency of food safety inspections.
Media agencies have innovated in propaganda, dissemination, and raising public awareness.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, despite many efforts, there are still some limitations. The number of food safety violations is increasing. The number of people infected is still large. Some tasks have been included in the plan but implementation is slow.
Representatives of ministries and functional agencies speak at the working session - Photo: VGP/Duc Tuan
Regarding the direction and tasks for 2025, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized the common viewpoint in ensuring food safety and hygiene is to focus more on prevention; strengthen inspection and supervision and when violations are detected, they will be strictly handled.
Inter-sectoral coordination is important and needs to be focused on, the Deputy Prime Minister stated, not just one agency but the whole system, including key agencies.
Propaganda work must be more comprehensive, especially regarding sanctions and punishments to serve as a deterrent.
Regarding the work of drafting legal documents, it is necessary to focus on drafting the Food Safety Law (amended) and amending Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Food Safety Law, focusing on basic provisions and contents, such as pre-inspection and post-inspection issues...
It is necessary to promote the application of information technology, digital transformation, and update the food safety database.
It is necessary to strengthen communication on food safety, focusing on preventive solutions and sanctions, inspections and checks.
Regarding the opinion on increasing sanctions, the Deputy Prime Minister requested ministries to study and propose amendments to relevant documents.
Regarding the database and digital transformation in the field of food safety, the Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Health, the standing agency of the Steering Committee, to have a detailed report and possibly organize a thematic meeting of the Steering Committee to discuss this issue to consider connecting data of ministries and branches.
The Deputy Prime Minister also requested the ministries and branches that are members of the Steering Committee to strictly implement the policy on restructuring and streamlining the apparatus, and report to the Prime Minister to consider arising issues to ensure that food safety work is still carried out smoothly.
The Deputy Prime Minister requested that functional agencies and localities focus on implementing food safety work well before, during and after Tet.
Source: https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/pho-thu-tuong-le-thanh-long-tap-trung-phong-ngua-va-xu-ly-nghiem-cac-vi-pham-an-toan-thuc-pham-385490.html
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