Many people do not know how to choose safe foods, including essential foods.

Tran Duc Huynh, vice secretary general of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), provided the above information at the workshop for collecting experts’ opinions on the draft Law on Food Hygiene and Safety on September 10.

Huynh said that the state of food hygiene and safety in Vietnam is alarming. Many people do not know how to choose safe foods, including essential foods.

Meanwhile, an Agency for Food Hygiene and Safety survey showed that people’s awareness of food hygiene and safety has improved in the last three years. The number of food poisoning cases is still high (around 8 million people annually) but it seems to be falling. The number of food poisoning patients in 2005 fell by 43.34% compared to 1994, with the number of deaths dropping by 28.17 percent.

Tran Thi Quang Hong from the Institute for Legal Sciences said the draft Law on Food Hygiene and Safety doesn’t make clear the responsibility of government agencies in managing food.

“The draft law says that the three Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Health (MoH), and Industry and Trade (MoIT) control food hygiene and safety together,” Hong said. “However, it doesn’t state which ministry is the key one,” she added.

Nguyen Tu Chuong, Director of the Centre for Aquacultural Technology Transfer and Service Centre, said: “It is unnecessary to have the MoIT on the list of government agencies controlling food hygiene. It is enough to have the MARD and the MoH.”

However, in this situation, when the MoIT cannot be immediately struck from the list, Chuong suggested that each ministry’s responsibilities be clearly defined.

According to Chuong, the MARD should be responsible for developing strategies, policies, production plans of safe food in cooperation with the two remaining ministries. However, the MoH must be the key agency in working out strategies and policies to protect people from unhealthy food.

Nguyen Xuan Vang, vice chairman of the National Assembly’s Science – Technology and Environment, said that MARD and the MoH have only 12 staff members each who are responsible for food hygiene control. Each province and city in Vietnam has only one government employee managing food hygiene.