At the program "People ask - Government answers" in August 2026 broadcast on August 9 with the theme "Ho Chi Minh City is ready for the new school year 2026 - 2027", voters who are parents of students in Binh Tan ward said that entering the new school year, the quality and safety of semi-boarding meals provided to schools by external units are a concern for parents.
What fundamental solutions has the city taken to control food sources right from the input? At the same time, clarify the responsibilities of units that sign contracts to bring meals to schools?" - voters raised the question.
In addition, this voter also asked about the management of street vendors at school gates today? When receiving feedback from people, how do units coordinate to handle it?
Answering this question, Ms. Pham Khanh Phong Lan - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety (ATTP) said that in recent years, food safety assurance in schools has always been closely coordinated by the unit with the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training and local authorities to be implemented drastically. This year, this work is being done even more drastically because some incidents still occurred in the past school year.
Regarding ensuring food safety for semi-boarding meals, the unit continues to clarify the responsibility of the head of the school in selecting partners. The majority of the approximately 3,500 schools in the city currently have meal supply models organized by the school itself or ordered from professional external suppliers.
To ensure effective implementation, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety has been, is and will continue to organize continuous professional training for all principals and more than 4,300 personnel directly in charge of school kitchens. When awareness is clear, implementation is expected to be better.
At the same time, the Department continues to strengthen inspection, comparison, grasp reality, remind and penalize if violations are detected, ensuring coverage of 100% of schools in the area. If incidents occur, the unit will proceed to handle them strictly according to the correct procedures.
There is a question of whether we dare to commit that there will be no food poisoning at establishments or not? We affirm that we will do our best, make every effort. If there are still cases, we will resolve them according to the correct procedures and have a deterrent effect for other cases" - Ms. Lan emphasized.
Regarding eateries and street food around school areas, the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety informed that this group is among 14,300 street food establishments in the whole city. Currently, direct management has been decentralized to local authorities. At the same time, the Food Safety Management Team of the Department also jointly controls and is ready to receive all feedback for verification and handling.
Notably, the leader of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety frankly acknowledged that the unit has implemented many activities but still faces difficulties, especially the current inspection and examination forms, most of which are still implemented according to plan. The unit wishes to promote the form of inspection and surprise inspection. However, for effective surprise inspections, special cooperation from parents is needed.
Therefore, when detecting any problems, people and parents should proactively provide information to local authorities or call the hotline of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety.
