Inadequacies in management mechanisms
Recently, the authorities have dismantled many fake food production and trading rings, including milk and health protection foods. According to Ms. Tran Viet Nga, Director of the Department of Food Safety (Ministry of Health), these incidents not only harm public health but also reduce consumer confidence.
Responding to the press about this issue, Ms. Nga affirmed that one of the main causes of this situation is inadequacies in the management mechanism. Specifically, Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP allows businesses to self-declare products without having to appraise documents by state management agencies. This has been taken advantage of by some organizations to "circumvent the law", produce and trade in poor quality products.
"The current self-declaration procedure is quite simple and does not require fees, creating conditions for businesses to develop. However, this also means that the management agency has difficulties in the post-inspection stage due to the large number of products announced, while the inspection force is limited," said Ms. Nga.
Not only in Vietnam, the situation of fake food also occurs on a global scale. Reports from international organizations show that the damage caused by fake food amounts to tens of billions of Euros per year in Europe and about 40 billion USD worldwide. Proposal to tighten management and amend legal regulations.
Faced with this situation, the Ministry of Health has proposed amending Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP towards strengthening supervision and post-inspection. At the same time, the Ministry is also coordinating with relevant ministries and branches to amend the Law on Food Safety, supplement regulations to overcome current loopholes.
"On the management side, in addition to the intentional violation of the enterprise, we also face difficulties due to the large number of products announced. Any business with a business registration can announce food products.
Meanwhile, the post-inspection force is still limited. Post-inspection work includes many activities such as checking records, checking production facilities, taking product samples on the market or at production facilities for testing, the cost of testing is quite high, causing difficulties for localities.
In order to solve this problem, the Government is amending the Food Safety Law, we have advised the Ministry of Health's leaders to submit to the Government amending Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP and legal documents towards tightening management and overcoming the current shortcomings, ”said the Director of the Department of Food Safety.
In addition, the Ministry of Health also recommended that People's Committees of provinces and cities increase investment in resources and funding for inspection and supervision work in the locality.
Decree 15 must be urgently amended
According to Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen, the current mechanism of self-proclaiming products poses many challenges for food and functional foods management. There are cases where a point is announced, production is at one point, when it reaches the address on the inspection declaration file, it is disappearing, there is no company.
"We also do not have a mechanism to revoke product publications, stop and revoke publications..." - he emphasized the need to urgently amend Decree 15.
"The Ministry of Health is assigned this task. The Ministry has assigned the Department of Food Safety, along with specialized units of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and related units. We must amend Decree 15, in the spirit of selectively accepting and managing it tightly, so that products with guaranteed quality can be released on the market" - Deputy Minister Tuyen said.
The Deputy Minister also said that registering a business is now too easy. While the work of inspection and supervision after inspection is still limited.
"Only when the Steering Committee is proactive, will the locality do it, otherwise there will be no program. The above saying is that if we deploy the month of action, we will deploy it, but if we proactively deploy it, we will not have it. I suggest that the Departments should proactively advise on this matter" - the Deputy Minister frankly raised the issue.
