Ensure food safety and hygiene, improve the quality of agricultural products

Food safety (FS) is increasingly of concern to society because of its direct impact on public health and socio-economic development. In recent times, the Nghe An Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development has implemented many solutions to control and improve the quality of agricultural products and FHS, contributing to protecting consumers and creating a foundation for sustainable development of Nghe An agricultural products.

Strengthen inspection and ensure food safety

With the area and output of many key crops such as rice, corn, tea, oranges, vegetables, the agricultural sector always plays a key role in the socio-economic development of the province. However, traditional production is still popular, the number of production and trading establishments of agricultural products is large and the scale is fragmented and small.

Every year, Nghe An produces over 1.2 million tons of rice. Photo: Phu Huong

In that condition, to manage and ensure food quality and safety in the area, strengthening the inspection and periodic and surprise inspection of agricultural and forestry production, processing and trading establishments is one of the activities that the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development always carries out throughout, especially during peak periods such as Lunar New Year, Month of Action for Food Safety... The Department also focuses on inspecting essential goods with high risks of food safety such as meat, vegetables, fruits and processed products.

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For violations, we resolutely handle them according to the provisions of the law, gradually eliminate poor quality products from the market, protect the legitimate rights of people and honest manufacturers.

Mr. Nguyen Van Ha - Head of Nghe An Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development

In the first 10 months of the year, units under the Department of Agriculture and Environment inspected and examined more than 700 establishments, at the same time, focused on assessing and granting Certificates of qualified food safety establishments to more than 260 establishments, conducting post-inspection self-declaration...; the amount of money to handle violating establishments amounted to hundreds of millions of VND.

Authorities seized bean sprouts containing banned substances. Photo courtesy

In particular, the coordination between the Department of Agriculture and Environment with other sectors and localities continues to be strengthened, contributing to improving the effectiveness of monitoring, detecting and promptly handling violations in quality management, production and trading of counterfeit, fake, poor quality goods and unsafe food. Typically, 3 bean sprout production facilities were discovered using the banned substance 6 Benzylaminopurine, destroying 14,540 kg of bean sprouts, contributing to preventing risks to consumers' health.

Traditional soy sauce making profession in Van An commune. Photo archive

The unit has focused on coordinating with localities to take samples to check the quality of agricultural products and food, especially focusing on high-risk items such as plant varieties, fertilizers, pesticides, veterinary drugs, vegetables, tubers, pickled bamboo shoots, processed foods, etc. Thereby, many violations related to labels, hygiene conditions, and product quality that do not meet the requirements according to regulations have been detected and handled.

Increase the area of ​​safe agricultural products

To improve the quality and safety of agricultural products, the Department has also promoted the development of safe production models, considering this a fundamental and sustainable solution to change traditional and outdated production practices, creating a source of clean products, ensuring quality to meet the increasingly high demands of the market.

Nghe An Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development has supported the construction and development of safe agricultural production models. Photo: Phu Huong

The unit has actively deployed and replicated production models according to VietGAP standards for crops and livestock. These models are supported in terms of techniques, production processes, and field diary recording, thereby creating products with clear traceability.

Practices in some localities show that the models of vegetables, fruits, tea, and oranges produced according to VietGAP have brought about outstanding economic efficiency, increasing farmers' income by 1.2-1.5 times compared to conventional production. It can be said that VietGAP is both a solution to improve the quality of agricultural products and a driving force to promote the restructuring of Nghe An agriculture towards modernity, sustainability and associated with building local brands.

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In the current conditions, the application of good agricultural practices (VietGAP, HACCP) is considered an inevitable direction. VietGAP not only helps farmers change their farming practices towards science, better control the use of fertilizers and pesticides, but also reduces environmental pollution and limits pests. More importantly, VietGAP certified products have enhanced reputation, creating advantages when accessing modern distribution systems and export markets.

Mr. Nguyen Thai Tuan - Head of Business Department - Nghe An Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development

The establishment of safe food supply chains from production to consumption is also a remarkable success, helping to control quality at every stage, ensuring that products when reaching consumers are the safest and highest quality. At the same time, the building of brands and identification labels for safe products is also promoted, creating solid trust in the market.

Since the beginning of the year, the Department has guided and supervised households participating in the construction of 4 safe production models according to VietGAP standards, 3 processing models according to HACCP standards, 3 models of transferring science and technology and building product brands in agricultural, forestry and fishery processing. At the same time, it has supported 251,600 stamps and labels; 11,870 product containers; 11,000 product bags and 1,000 kg of vacuum bags.

Electronic stamps tracing the origin of Vinh oranges are affixed to each orange before being sold on the market. Photo: Xuan Hoang

The Department also regularly organizes training sessions and conferences for farmers and owners of production and processing facilities. The content focuses on new regulations on food safety, safe farming techniques, and instructions on applying advanced preservation technologies. This is to equip people with legal knowledge and modern production skills, helping them proactively master clean production processes.

In particular, when entering the operation of the two-level government, the food safety management work for households and cooperatives was transferred to the commune-level government; however, most communes have not met the requirement that the head of the inspection team must have an appraiser certificate. In this situation, the Department promptly contacted the School of Agricultural and Rural Development Management Officers, coordinated to organize training for 67 trainees who are officers in charge of food safety management of communes and wards.

The Department's leaders worked with Central Retail Group in Ho Chi Minh City to connect the consumption of safe agricultural products of Nghe An. Photo: Thai Tuan

At the same time, promptly issue guidance documents and respond to consulting groups to support communes and wards. During the inspection process, weak communes and wards will receive additional guidance or coordinate and mobilize commune and ward officials to participate in the inspection to improve the qualifications, capacity and working ability of grassroots officials...

By promoting support for technology application in production, expanding standard models such as VietGAP, GlobalGAP, and at the same time, strengthening control and traceability, the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development has built trust for consumers and opened up opportunities to increase the value and competitiveness of Nghe An agricultural products in the market.

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Source: https://baonghean.vn/dam-bao-ve-sinh-an-toan-thuc-pham-nang-cao-chat-luong-nong-san-10310168.html