Tightening food safety through inspection, testing and post-inspection activities

The inspection and post-inspection working group of the Department of Industry and Trade of Can Tho City inspected food safety implementation at LOTTE Mart Can Tho supermarket.

Quality - top criteria

A representative of LOTTE Mart Can Tho said that in addition to the food safety and hygiene standards set by the relevant agencies, the unit also has an internal product inspection team. Accordingly, all types of goods, especially fresh food and processed food, are regularly strictly controlled by the internal quality inspection team according to the specific standards of LOTTE Mart and LOTTE Group to ensure safe food sources when reaching consumers. According to LOTTE Mart, to cooperate with the unit, suppliers must first meet the requirements for product quality certification, operation certification, and learn about the retail system's delivery process to ensure that all necessary documents are provided. At the same time, suppliers need to focus on the origin and quality of products, which is one of the factors that makes it easier to bring goods to supermarkets. Paying attention to product packaging design and using product traceability stamps in the form of QR codes will help protect and confirm the quality of suppliers' products.

When participating in networking and promotion events in localities, representatives of the purchasing department of the fast-moving consumer goods and fresh food sectors of Central Retail Group (the unit managing the retail systems GO!, BigC, Tops Market) directly discussed with potential suppliers the processes for bringing goods to supermarkets, giving comments on documents and sales proposals; giving comments on improving packaging and product designs to suit modern retail channels as well as providing addresses and contact points...

Ho Chi Minh City Union of Trading Cooperatives - Saigon Co.op (owner of supermarket systems Co.opmart, Co.opXtra, Co.op Food, Sense Market, Co.op Online) always affirms its sustainable development orientation and strong commitment to providing high quality products to consumers.

Accordingly, Saigon Co.op has built a professional and strict quality control process, applied from the production, harvesting, transportation to distribution stages. At each point of sale, the quality management department regularly checks preservation factors, temperature, packaging specifications and uses specialized equipment to evaluate product quality. Not stopping there, the unit also conducts random product inspections at points of sale, deploys mobile testing vehicles to periodically monitor product quality... At the same time, Saigon Co.op implements a program to plan product material areas, which can be said to be an important and pioneering step of Saigon Co.op in managing quality-assured goods sources...

Strengthen inspection and post-inspection

Recently, many food poisoning cases have occurred in many localities. The incident not only directly affects the health of consumers but also directly affects the economic and social development of the locality. This raises the responsibility of strictly controlling the market and ensuring food hygiene and safety.

In recent years, together with functional sectors, inspection and post-inspection activities of the Industry and Trade Department of Can Tho City have been promoted and implemented synchronously. The quality of inspections, checks and post-inspections has been increasingly improved; post-inspection of products declared and self-declared by establishments has been implemented promptly and in accordance with the provisions of law. In particular, on peak occasions such as Lunar New Year, Action Month for Food Safety, Mid-Autumn Festival, festivals, etc., the Industry and Trade Department of the city has directed specialized departments and Economic/Economic - Infrastructure departments of districts to proactively coordinate with functional agencies in the management area to participate in the Interdisciplinary Inspection and Inspection Team on Food Safety to conduct inspections of food production and trading establishments, catering services, and collective kitchens in the city; focusing on product groups consumed a lot during holidays and Tet that have a high risk of food safety violations. This has helped make the food market in the city safer. In the first months of 2025, there were no food poisoning cases in the city.

During the inspection and examination process, the Delegation focused on reviewing the following contents: certificate of food safety qualified facility; commitment to safe food production; health certificate, confirmation of food safety knowledge for facility owners and employees directly involved in food production and trading; product standard declaration dossier; food product labels; conditions for ensuring food safety for food production and trading facilities; conditions on facilities, equipment, tools, people; origin of raw materials, food additives; taking samples to test food safety indicators according to regulations when necessary...

According to the Department of Industry and Trade of Can Tho City, every year the Department makes a plan for food safety management within the scope of management of the Department of Industry and Trade in the city. Through post-inspection work in 2024 and the first months of 2025, it shows that the establishments basically comply with the conditions on business licenses, food safety and hygiene, business in the correct registered industry, business locations ensure hygiene; all traded items have clear origin and origin, have a certificate of conformity to food safety regulations issued by a competent authority, and valid conformity stamps on the products... However, there are still some violations at the establishments such as lack of a commitment to ensure food safety and hygiene, and places where food processing materials are stored are not in accordance with regulations... These violations were reminded by the Delegation to correct and promptly handle. Through the inspection and examination process, the Delegation also combines propaganda and education of knowledge and laws, raising awareness and consciousness of food production and business establishments and consumers about food safety.

According to the city's Department of Industry and Trade, there are still some shortcomings and difficulties in food safety inspection and post-inspection activities, such as the number of specialized civil servants in charge of food safety management is still small, most of whom work part-time (the city level has 1 specialized civil servant in charge of food safety management; in districts and counties, most of them work part-time). At the same time, the current system of legal documents on food safety in the Department of Industry and Trade is no longer suitable, some documents were issued a long time ago, based on legal documents that have expired...

Article and photos: NAM HUONG

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/siet-chat-an-toan-thuc-pham-qua-hoat-dong-thanh-tra-kiem-tra-va-hau-kiem-a186598.html