Together for food safety

The province's interdisciplinary inspection team checks procedures at a food production and trading facility in Tuy Hoa City. Photo: YEN LAN

Raise awareness and take action

The Food Safety Action Month 2025 takes place from April 15 to May 15, aiming to promote propaganda, education, raise awareness, identify responsibilities and actions of Party committees, Party organizations, cadres, Party members and People in ensuring food security and safety; promote the role and responsibility of organizations, individuals and enterprises in enforcing food safety laws; promptly inform about safe and high-quality agricultural and food value chains, establishments violating and posing potential risks of food security and safety. During the action month, inspection, examination and supervision work is strengthened. Authorities are determined to fight, prevent and strictly handle organizations, individuals, production and business establishments that violate food safety regulations, especially food service establishments, collective kitchens, street food... At the same time, the action month aims to improve the capacity to prevent and proactively handle food poisoning and food-borne diseases at establishments with collective kitchens, food service businesses, street food; and reduce poisoning due to consumption of unsafe food.

According to the Provincial Interdisciplinary Steering Committee for Food Safety, in recent times, food safety work has received the attention and direction of the entire political system from the province to localities; Party committees and authorities at all levels have taken action and created clear changes, achieving important results. Propaganda, inspection and examination of food safety have been strengthened, contributing to timely prevention and reduction of food safety risks. The system of legal documents, regulations and standards on food safety basically meet the requirements of state management and international integration; initially forming clean raw material areas and safe food supply chains. The fight against commercial fraud in food production and trading has gradually achieved many achievements. Consumer awareness and responsibility have been raised.

Focus on hygiene conditions of facilities and tools in food production and processing.
Disseminate and popularize regulations on hygiene conditions of facilities, equipment, and tools in food production, processing, and trading; raw materials must have clear origin and source; food additives and processing aids must be on the list of permitted uses, must be used in the correct dosage and for the correct subjects according to regulations in food production and processing; do not use food ingredients, fake food, poor quality food, or unsafe food.

However, in addition to the achieved results, food safety assurance work still reveals many shortcomings and limitations. The food poisoning situation is becoming more complicated, especially food poisoning in collective kitchens of companies, businesses, schools and food poisoning due to street food. Food advertising activities on digital platforms, social networks... are increasingly popular and very difficult to manage.

This situation requires further strengthening of food safety and security work, enhancing the role and responsibility of Party committees and authorities at all levels, managers, food producers, traders and consumers; and increasingly meeting the requirements of food safety and security work.

Communication goes hand in hand with inspection and control

During the Food Safety Action Month 2025, a communication campaign was strongly implemented, conveying messages about ensuring food safety; disseminating knowledge about preventing food poisoning, praising organizations and individuals with initiatives and techniques to ensure food safety, contributing to economic development; publicizing organizations and individuals who violate food safety regulations causing serious consequences...

MSc. Le Sy Kim, Head of Food Safety Department (Department of Health) said: In addition to visual communication activities through 45 banners on main roads, the Department of Health coordinates with press agencies to propagate food safety assurance on mass media, the propaganda content follows the instructions of the Department of Food Safety. At the same time, the Department of Health sent an official dispatch to food production and business establishments, catering services in the province, requesting establishments to respond to communication activities on food safety assurance.

In parallel with communication activities, inter-sectoral inspection and examination work is organized, focusing on key inspections of food production, trading and processing establishments, strictly and promptly handling violations. At the provincial level, the Department of Health has advised on the establishment of an inter-sectoral inspection team to conduct inspections of food production, trading and processing establishments managed by the provincial level. At the localities, based on the plan to implement the Food Safety Action Month in 2025 and the guidance documents of relevant departments and agencies, the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities direct the inter-sectoral food safety steering committees of districts, towns and cities to develop plans to ensure food safety in the locality, deployed from the district, town and city level to the commune, ward and town level; assign the inter-sectoral food safety inspection teams of districts, towns and cities to organize inspections of food production and trading establishments according to decentralization in the area.

Mr. Le Sy Kim said: For food production and trading establishments, the inspection team focuses on checking food safety and hygiene from the production stage to the preservation stage. For food service establishments, the inspection team checks food safety, especially the 3-step inspection and keeping food samples for traceability when needed.

Up to this point, the province's interdisciplinary inspection team has just inspected 5 food production and trading establishments in Phu Hoa district and Tuy Hoa city. Mr. Le Sy Kim assessed: The establishments have done relatively well in ensuring food safety and hygiene.

10 golden rules for safe food

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 10 golden rules for safe food, with simple, easy-to-follow and effective instructions.

1. Choose safe fresh foods: Raw vegetables must be soaked and washed thoroughly with clean water; fruits should be peeled before eating. Frozen foods that are thawed and then refrozen are unsafe.

2. Cook thoroughly before eating: Cook food thoroughly, ensuring the core temperature of the food reaches 70 degrees Celsius.

3. Eat immediately after cooking: eat immediately after cooking, because the longer food is left, the more dangerous it is.

4. Store cooked food carefully: To keep food for more than 5 hours, it must be kept continuously hot above 60 degrees Celsius or cold below 10 degrees Celsius.

5. Recook food thoroughly: Cooked food that is reused after 5 hours must be thoroughly cooked again.

6. Avoid cross-contamination between raw and cooked foods and dirty surfaces: Cooked foods can become contaminated with pathogens through direct contact with raw foods or indirectly with surfaces used to prepare food.

7. Wash your hands thoroughly before preparing food and after every interruption. If you have a hand infection, cover and bandage the wound before preparing food.

8. Keep food preparation surfaces clean: Since food is easily contaminated, any surface used for food preparation must be kept clean. Dishcloths should be boiled and changed frequently before reusing.

9. Cover food to keep out insects and other animals: Keep food in sealed containers, blocks, glass cabinets, or cages. That is the best way to protect it.

10. Use safe clean water: Clean water is colorless, odorless, tasteless and pathogen-free. Boil water before making ice for drinking. Be especially careful with water used for cooking for children.

Source: https://baophuyen.vn/xa-hoi/202504/cung-hanh-dong-vi-an-toan-thuc-pham-e0c420e/