Bac Ninh: Controlling risks, ensuring food safety

BAC NINH - During the Mid-Autumn Festival, people's demand for consumption and shopping for goods increases, eating and drinking activities are also more vibrant. To ensure food safety and protect people's health, the Food Safety Department (Bac Ninh Department of Health) promotes propaganda, strengthens inspections and handles violations of food safety.

Strengthen inspection

On October 3, the Inspection Team of the Food Safety Department organized an inspection of the compliance with the provisions of the law on food safety during the Mid-Autumn Festival for a number of food service establishments in the province. Present at the athlete kitchen of Bac Ninh University of Physical Education and Sports (Dong Nguyen Ward) at the right time when Ha Thanh International Services Joint Stock Company (Hanoi City) - the unit that signed a contract to provide meals with the school was preparing 900 lunches for students and teachers. During the inspection, the Team assessed that the kitchen was reasonably arranged, meeting food hygiene and safety requirements. The cooking was organized according to a one-way process, the food provided for the meals all had contracts and food safety certificates; the water source supplied to the kitchen was controlled and quality assured.

Members of the Food Safety Department's Inspection Team supervise the process of dividing cooked food at the kitchen of Bac Ninh University of Physical Education and Sports.

Similarly, during the inspection at the German Fresh Beer Restaurant Babarina (Co Phap Limited Liability Company, Tu Son Ward), the restaurant had full legal documents, clear food origin, and kitchen staff were trained in food safety knowledge. However, at the time of the inspection, there were still employees who had not received regular health check-ups as required. Mr. Nguyen Thac Bay, owner of the German Fresh Beer Restaurant Babarina, said: "Because the number of customers coming to the restaurant during the Mid-Autumn Festival increased by about 20% compared to normal days, we have just recruited some contract workers, and the health check-ups have not been carried out yet. This week, we will take the employees for health check-ups as required."

To ensure food safety during the Mid-Autumn Festival, on September 24, 2025, the Director of the Bac Ninh Department of Health decided to establish two inspection teams to inspect compliance with legal regulations on food safety in the health sector. Accordingly, from September 25 to October 7, the teams will conduct inspections of 24 establishments including collective kitchen businesses and restaurants in the province. Up to now, through inspection of 12 establishments, basically all units have presented full legal documents related to the business field such as: Business registration certificate, certificate of facility meeting food safety conditions, documents on people directly involved in food processing, documents proving the origin of raw materials for processing, test results of water for processing... However, there are still 2 establishments violating the provisions of the law on food safety, not implementing or not implementing correctly the provisions of the law on the 3-step food inspection regime. Currently, the Food Safety Department is completing the documents and handling them according to the provisions of the law.

Focus on propaganda and prevention

In order to raise awareness among food producers, traders and consumers; promptly detect, prevent and handle violations of food safety, on the occasion of this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, the Food Safety Department deployed many forms of communication. In September 2025, the Department coordinated with the Department of Education and Training to organize 4 training conferences on food safety knowledge in educational institutions for 1,350 people including managers, school health workers and students. In particular, from September 18 to October 10, 2025, the Food Safety Department launched a communication campaign to disseminate knowledge and laws on food safety in markets, central areas, and densely populated areas to convey communication messages. Publicize food production and trading establishments that ensure safety and safe food supply and demand activities along the chain; maintain hotlines to receive information on food safety at all levels. Mr. Tran Dinh Vinh, quality officer of Ha Thanh International Services Joint Stock Company, said: “This year's Mid-Autumn Festival is also the occasion when students from the Bac Ninh University of Physical Education and Sports, Vietnam University of Fine Arts and Ly Thai To College participate in the national defense and security education program, so the number of meals provided is large. Therefore, along with ensuring the quality of input materials and strictly implementing the processing procedures, we install and hang billboards and slogans promoting food safety in the dining area so that students can easily observe and follow them.”

In fact, although in recent years, there have been no cases of mass food poisoning involving many people in the province, the risk is still present because collective kitchens and restaurants have a large amount of food used daily. According to the assessment of professional agencies, some kitchens and restaurants still do not ensure cross-contamination prevention between unprocessed and processed food in the kitchen; there are also establishments that have not implemented or have not properly recorded the 3-step food inspection book and stored and destroyed food samples. At some establishments, the wastewater drainage system in the kitchen area is stagnant; there are no tools to collect and contain garbage and waste to ensure hygiene... In the face of the above reality, the Department of Health requires its departments and affiliated units to proactively coordinate, promote propaganda and dissemination of knowledge to establishment owners, leaders, managers and people involved in food processing. In addition to propaganda, the Department of Health's specialized agencies coordinate with the police and market management forces to inspect and strictly handle cases of transporting and supplying food of unknown origin and unsafe food.

Mr. Ngo Hoang Diep, Head of the Food Safety Department, said: “As soon as the inspection of compliance with legal regulations on food safety during the Mid-Autumn Festival ends, the Food Safety Department will synthesize and evaluate the current situation and risks of food safety at restaurants and food service establishments, thereby proposing solutions to prevent and stop. For units with violations, we will strengthen supervision of correction and conduct surprise inspections if violations recur.”

Article and photos: Sy Quyet

Source: https://baobacninhtv.vn/bac-ninh-kiem-soat-nguy-co-bao-dam-an-toan-thuc-pham-postid428170.bbg