Review Accountability
At the end of December 2024, the police force simultaneously inspected 6 bean sprout production facilities in Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province. During the inspection, the facilities admitted to using lime, well water, and a colorless liquid called "candy" water in the bean sprout production process.
According to Dak Lak Provincial Police, the "candy" water is actually the active ingredient 6-Benzylaminopurine, which is not on the list of substances allowed for use in food production or pesticides in Vietnam.
Among the establishments that were handled, only Lam Dao Trading Company Limited (Lam Dao Company) was granted a certificate of food safety eligibility, while the remaining establishments did not have this certificate. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Product Quality Management is the unit that granted the certificate to Lam Dao Company.
Mr. Nguyen Hoai Duong, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak province, said that Lam Dao Company had just been granted the certificate for the first time. According to regulations, after 1 year, the authorities will re-inspect the production conditions, but the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Product Quality Management is only allowed to periodically inspect once a year and does not have the authority to conduct regular inspections. Mr. Duong emphasized that the limited human resources of the department is also an objective factor leading to the incident.
“After the incident, the Department requested the Sub-Department to review the procedures for granting certificates to businesses. If any shortcomings are found, they must be seriously reviewed and lessons learned. In the future, the current mechanism should also be changed, and the process of granting food safety certificates should also be tightened. This move is to avoid the situation where hundreds of flowers bloom, businesses spring up everywhere, and are difficult to control,” Mr. Duong affirmed.
Encourage people to monitor and report
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Ha, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak province, after the incident, the unit requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to strictly handle organizations and individuals who violate regulations in the production, preliminary processing, processing, packaging, transportation and trading of food.
Mr. Ha said that the ministry should develop a pilot project on digital transformation to monitor agricultural and forestry production and processing facilities, and then issue specific legal regulations. The Ministry of Industry and Trade also needs to regularly inspect, monitor and sample products at supermarkets and grocery stores to promptly warn people, and strictly handle cases of food businesses that do not meet quality standards.
Mr. Nguyen Thien Van - Vice Chairman of Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee - said that the Provincial People's Committee has directed the competent authorities to strengthen inspection and rectification to ensure effective food safety management in the area. According to Mr. Van, the management of the food supply chain requires cross-monitoring, because simply issuing a "certificate of food safety eligibility" is not enough without a mechanism to monitor production activities.
"State management agencies need to develop plans to conduct surprise inspections of business establishments to promptly detect and handle violations. At the same time, administrative sanctions also need to be strengthened to be a sufficient deterrent," Mr. Van emphasized.
He also encouraged people to monitor and report establishments that produce and trade dirty food. "Even workers involved in production need to speak up to report the wrongdoings of business owners, contributing to ensuring the health of the community and their families," Mr. Van added.
