On September 7, an inspection team from the Hanoi Department of Health led by Ms. Tran Thi Nhi Ha, Director of the Hanoi Department of Health, inspected food safety and hygiene (FSH) for moon cakes at two luxury hotels in the city, Sofitel Legend Metropole and Fortuna.
An inspection at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel showed that during this period, the hotel produced about 4,000 moon cakes. The inspection team assessed that although the kitchen of a long-standing hotel, it had been upgraded and maintained regularly to ensure food safety conditions. The hotel presented complete legal documents for 11 baked and sticky rice cakes, raw material documents, and certificates of food safety qualified facilities.
However, in the bakery kitchen area, the facilities are cramped and cannot meet the one-way process. The hotel needs to review and separate areas from the raw material warehouse, production area, sample storage to complete packaging.
For Fortuna Hotel, the delegation requested that the hotel must fully disclose the microbiological and preservative standards for the 6 mooncake products produced by the hotel. The kitchen area must ensure the cleanliness of the wooden table surface where the cakes are directly processed; there must be a separate place to store food samples, and they should not be stored in the same cold storage; the drainage area must be covered.
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The production process of moon cakes at some luxury hotels in Hanoi does not ensure food safety. |
Meanwhile, the inspection team of the Hanoi Food Safety Department has just inspected food safety assurance during the Mid-Autumn Festival at other 5-star hotels in Hanoi: Pullman HaNoi, Novotel and Pan Pacific Hanoi.
Through inspection at Pullman Hanoi Hotel, it was found that this year, the hotel imported moon cakes from another facility according to the hotel's order and request. The self-declared forms of the moon cake production facility did not comply with regulations; the cake boxes only had the name Pullman Hotel on the label. The inspection team suggested that the hotel should add additional product labels and complete the content according to regulations.
In the hotel kitchen area, the facilities, table system, shelves, equipment and utensils are degraded, the floor is peeling. The drainage system has not been cleaned properly. On the other hand, the kitchen area is arranged in a messy, unscientific and substandard manner. Food samples are not stored properly.
Along with that, the cold storage has degraded, the freezer is rusty, some foods used for processing have expired. Meanwhile, the awareness of kitchen staff is not high, defrosting food is not according to regulations. The delegation reminded the hotel to strengthen training, improve food safety knowledge for cooking staff.
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An inspection team from the Hanoi Department of Health, led by Director Tran Thi Nhi Ha, inspected the food safety of moon cakes at a 5-star hotel in Hanoi. |
Similarly, Novotel Hotel did not produce moon cakes but ordered them from another facility. However, upon inspection, the moon cake boxes only had the hotel’s name on the label. The ingredients listed on the product label did not match the ingredients in the declaration file.
Through the actual inspection, the kitchen area is arranged in a messy, unscientific and substandard manner. The cold storage and raw and cooked food are not covered. The food is arranged in a messy manner and substandard. The kitchen prepares salads and peels fruits without ensuring hygiene.
Meanwhile, the spices were extracted into individual boxes without labels or expiration dates. The inspection team also discovered that some spices had expired, and some spices were extracted into individual boxes without labels.
The hotel could not provide documents proving the origin of the food coloring used in the production of the cakes, including expired food coloring. A quick test of 10 dishes showed that 70% of the dishes met the requirements, while 30% did not.
For Pan Pacific Hanoi Hotel, the inspection team assessed that the kitchen area met food safety and hygiene requirements. However, the team also noted that the hotel needed to fully supplement the content on the label of moon cakes according to regulations.
In response to the above violations, the inspection team of the Hanoi Food Safety Department requested the two hotels Pullman HaNoi and Novotel to immediately correct the existing errors, destroy expired products and clearly state the name of the moon cake production facility on the label. The inspection team will also conduct post-inspection of the hotels' correction of these violations.
According to Ms. Tran Thi Nhi Ha, on the occasion of Mid-Autumn Festival 2023, the Hanoi Department of Health will strengthen food safety inspections for 3-star hotels or higher in the city that produce moon cakes, because these are hotels that require high food safety and hygiene quality requirements and strict procedures.
In particular, focusing on checking input materials, the entire production and processing process, personal hygiene and knowledge of moon cake makers. During the inspection process, if violations are detected, they will be promptly corrected and strictly handled according to regulations.
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