Notably, some types of cakes are introduced as imported goods, sold by weight, by box at a price of only a few thousand VND per piece. But when buyers request invoices and documents proving origin, sellers cannot provide them.
Cheap prices do not automatically mean low quality or unsafety. Consumers also have the right to choose products that are suitable for their affordability.
What is worrying is not the price, but the fact that cakes of unknown origin, without invoices and food safety records can still go from warehouses to stores and then reach consumers.
Faced with this risk, the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health) has requested localities to strengthen inspections of establishments producing and trading Mid-Autumn cakes, confectionery and soft drinks; promptly trace and recall unsafe products.
The name of the establishment, address and violating products must also be publicized in the mass media. In case there are signs of crime, the file will be transferred to the police agency for handling.
These are necessary requirements, because food of unknown origin not only infringes on consumer rights but can also have direct consequences for health.
Another issue is that along with inspection activities, people are often advised to carefully read labels, check the expiration date, choose reputable selling places and not buy floating goods.
Those recommendations are completely correct, but the responsibility of ensuring food safety should not be gradually pushed towards buyers.
Because ordinary consumers find it very difficult to determine whether the ingredients and additives used inside a cake are in accordance with regulations or not. They are also not qualified to verify the information printed on the packaging or the seller's introduction.
Even a cake that is intact, with normal color and taste is not guaranteed to be safe if it is produced or stored improperly.
Therefore, to ensure that each cake is safe for consumers, functional agencies need to check from the production facility, import unit, wholesale warehouse to the distribution network, instead of just handling a few retail outlets when the cake has been put on the market.
In particular, it is necessary to strictly control warehouses and online business activities. From these outlets, a batch of cakes of unknown origin can be quickly broken down, distributed to many places, even changed packaging and introduced under different names.
Consumers must be cautious and responsible for their choices. But greater responsibility still lies with producers, importers, distributors and management agencies.
It is unacceptable to let cakes without papers and of unknown origin circulate publicly and then require buyers to recognize and protect themselves.
