Regulators call for rapid alert system for food safety

(04-11-2009)

Market Watch Team No5 officials inspect food standards in a factory in the northern province of Ninh Binh. To ensure public health, it is critical to build up a rapid alert system for food safety in ASEAN countries. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Hue

HA NOI — Establishing a rapid alert system for food and feed in Viet Nam and other ASEAN member countries was crucial to health safety, Viet Nam Food Administration head Nguyen Cong Khan said yesterday.

Khan told an EU-ASEAN food safety workshop in Ha Noi that with the world’s growing interdependence, the management and control of food for domestic and export markets must be increased.

He said speeding up the exchange of updated information related to food safety should be enhanced considerably.

ASEAN members at the workship learnt from European countries’ experiences in creating their Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed.

European Commission’s Delegation counsellor Madelein Kihlberg told the workshop that sustainable national and regional rapid alert systems would improve communication between services involved in control of the food chain. This would reduce fragmentation that hindered efforts to make products safer.

Kihlberg said food was crucial to socio-economic development. The system would help Asean countries have their exports meet EU food safety and hygiene requirements.

Khan said the system was important for Viet Nam because food safety and hygiene violations were on the rise and the country lacked human resources and equipment to police the situation properly.

The Ministry of Health had assigned 12 units to monitor food imports at border gates, while the localities garnered fines of nearly VND200 million (US$11,100) for food safety violations during the first nine months of the year.

He said rapid alert systems provided a network for information exchange and the introduction of control measures between regions and countries. When a country had information of a serious risk it notified the commission who would then transmit the information to other members.

At present there is an ASEAN pilot alert system for which the Viet Nam Food Administration serves as the nation’s contact point.

Called the Asean Rapid Alert System for Food, it has been in operation for three years with seven active members – Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam – and three observer members: Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore. — VNS