According to current regulations, food safety management is prescribed in the Food Safety Law, including the responsibility of food safety management of: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (now Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), Ministry of Industry and Trade and People's Committees at all levels.
Regarding the fake milk production line has just been destroyed by the Ministry of Public Security on a large scale, with a turnover of nearly VND 500 billion occurred at Rancher Pharma International Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company and Hacofood Group Nutrition Joint Stock Company, Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said it does not grant licenses and manage products
On April 14, the Director of the Domestic Market Management and Development Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said: According to the regulations, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is responsible for managing the group of conventional milk products, excluding nutrient micronutrients, functional foods, or pharmaceuticals with special nutritional components, these products are currently managed by the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has no authority to issue a business registration certificate to the enterprise. The establishment and registration of enterprises' operations are implemented by the Department of Planning and Investment of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government in accordance with the Enterprise Law.
Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade does not carry out the licensing and direct management of products by Rancher Pharma International Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company and Hacofood Group Nutrition Joint Stock Company.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade can only conduct inspections for these enterprises when detecting signs of violations within the assigned functions and tasks.
The Ministry of Health said responsibility belongs to localities!
Meanwhile, on April 15, the Department of Food Safety, the Ministry of Health had official information related to the case of fake milk production and trading. The document of the Department of Analysis clearly content: The Ministry of Health is responsible for directing and the licensing and post -inspection is the responsibility of the localities.
With its responsibility, the Department has annual plans, a series of documents directing localities on post -inspection. However, the question of the licensing and post -inspection of "fake milk" products has just been exposed by which unit, the Food Safety Sub -Department is unclear the answer.
According to the Ministry of Health, the announcement and registration of food products announcement is prescribed in Decree 15/2018/ND-CP. Accordingly, most foods are self -published and there are 4 groups that need to be more control, they must be registered for the product announcement with competent state agencies before being circulated in the market.
According to Decree 15, the provincial People's Committee is responsible for "organizing the reception and management of dossiers and certificates of the product disclosure, certificates of advertising content for medical nutrition products, food for special diets, nutritional products for children up to 36 months of age".
In addition, Decree 15 also specifies the responsibilities of ministries, branches and localities for the management of specific food groups and responsibilities in inspection, examination and handling of violations.
In which, the provincial People's Committee provides for the state management of food safety in the local area, responsible to the Government for food safety in the locality to organize the handling of violations of the law on food safety as prescribed; take responsibility before the Government and before the law when there is a violation of the law on food safety in the area.
The Ministry of Health said that as the Standing Committee of the Central Interdisciplinary Steering Committee on food safety, every year the Ministry of Development and promulgation of post -inspection plans for food production and trading establishments as a basis for ministries, branches and localities to formulate and implement their plans.
"The case is in the process of investigating, the Ministry of Health has and will continue to coordinate closely with the Ministry of Public Security on professional issues so that the Ministry of Public Security has grounds to handle the law, examine the responsibilities of relevant organizations and individuals," the document of the Food Safety Department said.
Talking to the Labor reporter, a pressing member of the National Assembly: The case of hundreds of fake milk circulated on the market for a long time showed that there was a great hole in management. However, up to now, the agencies responsible for food safety are showing "not their main responsibility".
Lawyer Hoang Van Ha - Director of Hanoi ARC Law Firm: It is impossible to stop at the business handling.
"In this case, it is necessary to look directly at the responsibilities of the competent authorities, which are specified in: Article 19 - Decree 15/2018/ND -CP: The competent authority must check the product self -published, compare with the conditions of production and legal records; Article 15 - Circular 43/2018/TT -BYT: Request for periodic, irregular inspection, violation of records if the signature is available.
Obviously, the prolonged violation shows a hole in supervision, inspection, as well as the lack of coordination between agencies such as Health, Industry and Trade and Market Management.
I think that it is necessary to rectify the entire process, clearly the responsibility of each related unit. "
