Hanoi may establish a Department of Food Safety

According to the draft Law on the Capital (amended) that the Ministry of Justice is consulting with the public before submitting to the Government, the Hanoi People's Council can establish a Department of Food Safety. The Ministry explained that the proposal to establish a specialized department for food safety is based on practical requirements.

The 2010 Food Safety Law stipulates that the responsibility for food safety management at the central level belongs to the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In which, the Ministry of Health is the leading and advisory agency. Similarly, at the local level, there are three departments managing this field.

Vegetable stall at Hanoi traditional market, January 2023

According to the decision of the Hanoi People's Committee in 2022, the Department of Health is the permanent focal point of the Steering Committee for food safety, managing the production, preliminary processing, processing, preservation, transportation, and trading of bottled water, nutritional foods, and additives.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development manages cereals, meat, seafood, vegetables, tubers, fruits, eggs, fresh milk, honey, genetically modified foods, salt, spices, sugar, tea, coffee, cocoa, and pepper. The Department of Industry and Trade manages beer, wine, alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, processed milk, vegetable oil, starch, and confectionery.

District Chairmen act as heads of food safety steering committees; organize inspections and supervision of food safety in the area.

The fact that three sectors jointly manage the food safety sector leads to overlapping responsibilities, poor coordination, low efficiency and many loopholes. Therefore, in November 2022, the Secretariat requested to soon unify a focal point to ensure food safety from the central to local levels.

Discussing in the National Assembly at the end of May, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra said that the Government's proposal to establish a Ho Chi Minh City Food Safety Department has sufficient legal basis because the Food Safety Law and related laws have already stipulated it. In practice, the cityHo Chi MinhThe pilot establishment of the Food Safety Management Board has been in place since 2016 and has proven effective.

According to the Minister of Home Affairs, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety has the function of inspecting and handling violations of the law and administrative violations of food safety. If it operates effectively, it will advise on research to establish it in large cities.

The National Assembly then passed a Resolution to pilot a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the city's development.Ho Chi Minh, which allows the city to establish a Department of Food Safety.

According to VnExpress