Dirty food, fake medicine: White crime

Dirty food is not simply a matter of hygiene or commercial fraud. It is a white crime, silent but dangerous, because it affects public health.

Fake medicine has just been seized by the police - Photo: Provided by Thanh Hoa Provincial Police

Recently, public opinion has been shaken by a series of serious cases related to counterfeit goods and commercial fraud, from the case of 500 fake milk labels being smuggled into the market for many years to the case of a seafood facility in Tien Giang using chemicals of unknown origin to marinate basa fish, the case of "fake VietGAP" chicken eggs being swapped into a supermarket chain in Bac Giang ...

The Prime Minister emphasized that this is a big and serious problem and attributed it to the laxity of some relevant agencies and localities.

The recent proliferation of dirty food, fake goods, and counterfeit drugs is no longer an isolated incident, but has become a challenge to public ethics, legal discipline, and public administration capacity.

When consumers have to choose food and medicine with anxiety, not only is public health threatened, but trust in institutions, laws and public management is also eroded.

When violations occur continuously but no one is prosecuted or punished lightly, when businesses violate but still operate freely, when managers are only "criticized to learn from experience", people have the right to ask: Where is the law? Who protects their legitimate rights?

Can't just act after the incident, an incident happens and we go to check it out, then after the "launch" everything is back to normal.

We must end the mindset of "prevention is primary, handling is secondary", and replace it with decisive action, strictly handling violations, including criminal prosecution, with a clear warning message: violations will be punished, abetting will be implicated.

So that criminals who make counterfeit goods and commit commercial fraud will hesitate.

The legal provisions dealing with counterfeit goods are sufficient, the problem lies in the implementation. The Criminal Code has stipulated the crime of "producing and trading in counterfeit food and food additives" with the highest penalty of life imprisonment.

But looking back over time, how many serious violations have been prosecuted? How many people have paid the price before the law for counterfeiting?...

If the law has enough penalties but is not strictly enforced, the law will only remain on paper, which will be fertile ground for dishonest traders to manipulate the market, harm the community, and cause the fear of "fear of eating anything" to haunt every family.

We need to regain consumer trust through concrete actions. First of all, we must clearly define individual responsibilities in each case. We cannot let the heads of inspection, testing, and licensing agencies "hide in the dark" while allowing dirty food to slip through the control loops.

Next, the food standard certification system such as VietGAP, HACCP, GlobalGAP needs to be strongly reformed. It is time to eliminate the situation of "subscription certification", certificates becoming a transactional item, lacking actual inspection, lacking independent post-inspection.

Tightening licensing and post-inspection processes needs to go hand in hand with mandatory electronic traceability, making the entire supply chain from farm to fork transparent.

The market cannot be healthy if information on handling violations remains hidden. We need an early warning system for food safety violations, with data interconnected between ministries, localities and consumer associations.

The media must be the people's "defensive barrier", responsive, transparent and have sanctions if businesses intentionally conceal risky information.

Dirty food is not simply a matter of hygiene or commercial fraud. It is a white crime, silent but dangerous, because it affects public health, destroys social trust and corrupts business ethics.

As long as violations are tolerated, people will continue to have to "buy food with trust and risk".

Every time we ignore a violation, we accept another danger to society. Every time the law is delayed, justice is challenged.

As the Prime Minister once said: "Being lenient with criminals is a crime against the people." People cannot continue to be victims in their own daily meals.

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Dr. TRAN HUU HIEP

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thuc-pham-ban-thuoc-gia-toi-ac-trang-2025060608365699.htm