HCM City should improve food safety and hygiene at all stages of the production cycle from farming to distribution, the head of the People’s Council’s Cultural and Social Affairs Board has said.
At a meeting between the council and the Department of Health on Wednesday, Huynh Cong Hung said he did not yet feel assured about the food safety and hygiene in the city.
Food contaminated by micro-organisms continued to be sold, while the sale of chemicals used as additives was not brought under control, he said.
For the sake of profits, manufacturers, especially small ones, and vendors were ready to flout safety and hygiene regulations, but Government agencies did not punish them severely enough, he said.
Huynh Le Thai Hoa, head of the city Food Safety and Hygiene Division, said his division faced many challenges.
Agricultural products from other provinces accounted for 80 per cent of those sold in the city, making it difficult to trace their origins, he said.
