On June 19 - 20, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son answered the question-and-answer session at the 9th session of the 15th National Assembly.
Many delegates are interested in providing safe food and meals for students. In particular, National Assembly delegate Nguyen Hoang Uyen (Long An delegation) expressed that there were still some food poisoning cases that made hospitalized students and society worried.
Regarding the issue of food control, ensuring the supply of safe food and meals for students, Minister Nguyen Kim Son said that this is a big problem, requiring the participation of many sectors and many units.
Regarding regulations and institutions, according to the Minister, currently, documents regulating and guiding food hygiene and safety are all joint circulars between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Training.
"I have also proposed to unify 1 unit as the Ministry of Health strictly regulates, in accordance with the principle of "2 things are 1 management unit". The Ministry of Education and Training is a unit that fully implements its responsibilities, and will be more harmonious" - the Minister said.
He also added that in the coming time, he will continue to strengthen inspection and supervision by local government organizations. The Minister explained that if the control is not good from the origin of food, in the case it is only the "short" control stage.
"We will coordinate with the Ministry of Health to inspect the inspections of localities. In addition, regarding the charter, operating regulations of the school, the responsibility of meal service staff... We will strengthen internal inspection and supervision of activities in the coming time" - the minister affirmed.
On the side of the health sector, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan assessed that food safety in schools still occurs, including many reasons such as: Hot weather conditions or processing methods, implementation not ensuring compliance with standard conditions...
The Minister raised the issue, how should we ensure transparency in the implementation of providing meals for students, including in quantity, quality, and funding sources, and supervision in the implementation of all of this content.
"We see that there are places where this implementation has not yet ensured compliance with regulations and there is still a phenomenon of reduced standards and quality of meals for students. This is something we think we need to focus on strengthening inspection and supervision related to this content" - the minister said.
The head of the health sector also set a goal of moving towards professionalism and meeting the requirements of food safety, service provision, as well as traceability and quality assurance according to the set conditions.
