Food processing impregnated ... votive additives!

Food made with gold emulsified (chemical used to print gold money paper) to create attractive color . HCMC Department of Health alert food safety and hygiene!

Unknown who manages?

There are about 2,000 chemicals in the world used as additives in food processing, but Vietnam only allows 258 substances as additives.

Since then, the production facilities have ' hurdled ' using additives outside the list, typically Formaldehyde, borax . harmful to consumers' health.

Dr. Le Truong Giang, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said that in the " Sixth HCM City Quality Conference " held recently.

More worrisome, according to Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health representative, the trading of chemicals used as additives is not managed by any agency. Many establishments have arbitrarily used toxic chemicals, especially color products, to create artificial appeal for food. There are even situations where stalls and stalls sell processed food that has been impregnated with golden emulsions (chemicals used to print votive paper) to duck chickens to create attractive colors.

Besides, the management of the authorities is still not effective because of overlapping functions and poor coordination ability of the management departments. For example, the veterinary sector examines the origin of food and epidemics, the health sector controls the preservation and use, but when a poisoning occurs, it is impossible to conclude the omission due to the responsibility of the restaurant. of animal health, or lack of control of the health sector.

On the other hand, due to unclear assignment of responsibilities, it is unclear which authority belongs to which leads to loose management. One example is that in the field of seafood, the Department of Aquatic Resource Protection is responsible for group B processing factories, the Department of Trade manages 4 wholesale markets, the Department of Health inspects the preservation of history. The use of seafood has been purchased for consumption, while the retail seafood in the market has almost no management agencies.

Inadequacies in management and lack of coordination in coordination have led to passivity in all regulatory agencies, making it impossible for regulatory agencies to build their own strategies. From there, agencies only weighed heavily on dealing with each moment, such as the rush to check out the army, and then go back there.

According to HCMC Department of Health, food safety and hygiene quality is emerging as a topical issue of the city. The biggest anxiety of this Department is that, if the management situation is not overcome, it will lead to unpredictable consequences when the Government promulgates the policy of shifting from pre-check to post-check under the Enterprise Law.

Type and indicator
Test

2002 year

Year 2003

2004

Total test codes

The total number of samples failed

Total test codes

The total number of samples failed

Total test codes

The total number of samples failed

Hygiene (according to 867 - BYT)

68

60

66

65

99

82

Physical chemistry (color, welding, chemical)

eighty seven

32

85

45

127

60

Dang Vy