Closing the "loopholes" in food safety control.

A large-scale counterfeit milk production and distribution ring operating at Rance Pharma International Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company and Hacofood Group Nutrition Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company has been dismantled by the police after nearly four years of operation, with almost 600 different milk products already released onto the market. This raises many issues regarding consumer protection, as well as the responsibility of regulatory agencies.

The Food Safety Department (FSD) of the Ministry of Health has long been the focal agency responsible for ensuring food safety and quality. However, in the face of an extremely serious food safety violation, this agency has shirked responsibility by claiming that milk is a product whose quality is self-declared, therefore businesses are solely responsible and management has been decentralized to local authorities.

The above explanation may be correct from an administrative procedural standpoint. However, with the responsibilities and duties assigned by the Government , the Food Safety Department still has to carry out post-inspection, that is, checking the quality of food after businesses have self-declared it. Yet, in four years, nearly 600 brands of counterfeit milk were openly advertised with enticing claims such as containing bird's nest, cordyceps, etc., even making their way into major hospitals, but not once were these products sampled for testing, and not a single inspection was conducted. Furthermore, since functional foods and nutritional milk directly affect consumer health, market management forces cannot simply "stand aside" and wait for violations before intervening and taking action.

What the public truly needs right now is no longer an apology or serious acceptance of responsibility from the relevant authorities, but rather fundamental, comprehensive solutions to close the "loopholes" in the food safety and quality control process.

NGUYEN QUOC

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/bit-lo-hong-trong-kiem-soat-attp-post791819.html