Quality control of agricultural and aquatic products

1. Like many other housewives, Ms. Tran Thi Huong in Phu Thuy ward, Lam Dong province always pays attention to the quality of each meal and aims for clean products with clear origins. However, because she lives in an urban area with a small land area, she has to buy almost all of her food from vegetables, tubers and foods such as fish and meat at the market near her house. Her insecurity arose when recently the media reported on a series of cases of counterfeit, fake and poor quality goods being discovered and handled by authorities, including agricultural products. Ms. Huong said that to ensure the quality of her meals, her family partly grows vegetables in styrofoam boxes, and partly switches to buying food at reputable points of sale, products certified by OCOP, with clear origins.

The worries of Ms. Huong and many other housewives are not unfounded, when in reality, for economic benefits, some gardeners still use many types of pesticides that are not in accordance with regulations to spray on vegetables and fruits, especially raw vegetables, leading to pesticide residues.

2. According to the provincial agricultural sector, in the past 5 years, the management of agricultural and aquatic food safety quality has been implemented by the sector with relatively complete solutions. In particular, sampling for quality monitoring has been enhanced on high-risk products such as vegetables, meat, aquatic raw materials, and processed aquatic products. At the same time, focusing on building and developing many safe food supply chain models, promoting the transfer of application of technical advances and new technologies into production to bring high efficiency...

However, the provincial agricultural sector also acknowledged the existence of small-scale production areas and primary processing facilities for agricultural and aquatic products in the southeastern region of the province. On the other hand, the habit of abusing pesticides and the use of pesticides of unknown origin and poor quality still persist; a number of food producers and traders have low awareness of complying with food safety laws and are still chasing profits...

Therefore, to ensure food safety and improve the quality of agricultural and aquatic products in the province, it is necessary to strictly handle cases of using banned substances in animal husbandry; using food additives and processing aids in preliminary processing and processing of food not in accordance with regulations. These include antibiotics, veterinary drugs, plant protection chemicals not on the list of permitted use or of unknown origin... to create trust for food consumers. In addition, promoting safe cultivation, animal husbandry, and aquaculture according to GAP and organic standards to improve product quality and value... Raising awareness and sense of responsibility for food safety in the practice of production and trading of agricultural and aquatic products. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen food safety control along the chain for key agricultural and aquatic products of the province and advantageous products of each locality. The goal is to control the quality of agricultural and aquatic products, contributing to ensuring consumer health and meeting domestic and export market demand.