On July 14, the inter-sectoral Steering Committee for Food Safety (FS) of Khanh Hoa province held a conference to assess food safety assurance work in the first 6 months of the year and deploy tasks for the last 6 months of the year.
According to the Steering Committee, the whole province currently manages 59,677 food production and business establishments, of which the provincial level manages 4,432 establishments and the commune and ward level manages 55,245 establishments.
In the first 6 months of the year, functional sectors established 172 inspection teams, inspecting 6,416 establishments. As a result, 6,212 establishments met requirements, accounting for 96.8%; 204 establishments violated, accounting for 3.2%. As a result, 94 establishments were fined with a total amount of more than 1.639 billion VND.
Notably, the Economic Police force of the Provincial Police inspected 21 establishments and discovered up to 15 violating establishments, fining nearly 960 million VND.
The main acts include trading in goods of unknown origin; using raw materials of unknown origin; violating regulations on conditions for processing and preserving food; not performing three-step inspection, storing food samples; illegally slaughtering animals and many other violations related to food safety.
At the commune level, functional forces inspected 6,057 establishments, discovered 128 unqualified establishments, fined 18 establishments with a total amount of more than 87 million VND, and reminded 110 establishments to overcome existing problems.
According to the Provincial Inter-sectoral Steering Committee for Food Safety, management work still faces many difficulties because officials in charge of food safety at the commune level are mainly part-time, regularly rotating jobs, while the number of food business establishments is very large and constantly fluctuating.
In addition, the traceability of raw materials, especially livestock and poultry meat, after being blanched and distributed through many intermediaries, still has many limitations.
In the last 6 months of the year, Khanh Hoa will strengthen inspections of collective kitchens at schools and industrial parks; tighten food safety assurance in tourist areas such as Binh Hung, Vinh Hy, Bai Kinh; and at the same time promote food control at wholesale markets and street food during the hot season.
Mr. Nguyen Long Bien - Standing Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Inter-sectoral Steering Committee for Food Safety - requested departments, branches and localities to strictly handle violations.
Mr. Nguyen Long Bien emphasized that for violating establishments, the highest penalty level must be resolutely applied according to regulations; in case of recurrence, it is necessary to consider suspending operations or forcing closure to protect the health of people and tourists and maintain the image of Khanh Hoa's safe destination.
