Strengthening food safety, preventing food poisoning during the summer and storm, flood season in Vietnam

Strengthening food safety, preventing food poisoning during the summer and storm, flood season in Vietnam (Image from the internet)

On September 06, 2024, the Food Safety Department of Vietnam issued Official Dispatch 2273/ATTP-NDTT concerning the enhancement of food safety assurance and food poisoning prevention during summer and typhoon, flood seasons.

Strengthening food safety, preventing food poisoning during the summer and storm, flood season in Vietnam

To proactively ensure food safety and prevent food poisoning in the upcoming period, the Food Safety Department of Vietnam requests the Health Departments of the provinces/central-affiliated cities, and the Food Safety Management Boards of Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Bac Ninh to cooperate with relevant functional units in the area to proactively deploy the following contents:

- Urgently develop a plan for food safety assurance during the summer and typhoon, flood seasons in the managed area; strengthen inspections, supervision of food safety at food production, business establishments, focusing on ready-to-eat food production facilities, beverage, ice business establishments, food service businesses, central kitchens in schools, hospitals, industrial zones, export processing zones, etc. Early detection and stringent handling of violations of food safety regulations and publicizing violations on media to promptly warn the community.

- Enhance information dissemination, education on food safety, prevention of food poisoning, and foodborne illnesses to improve the responsibility of changing unsafe food handling behaviors, focused on the following aspects:

+ Educating and guiding people in selecting, pre-processing, processing, storing, and using safe food. For areas at high risk of being affected by typhoons, floods, it is necessary to monitor forecasts, developments of typhoons, floods in the area and proactively plan for the storage of processed foods, bottled water, vitamins, medicine, and health sector disinfectants.

+ Educating food production, business establishments, consumers to absolutely avoid using livestock, poultry that died from diseases or unknown causes for food or processing food; ensure cooked food and boiled water, with water used for cooking, processing food being sterilized, especially during typhoon, flood time.

+ Educating people to absolutely avoid collecting, catching, trading, using toxic animals and plants such as poisonous mushrooms, strange insects, toxic, pufferfish, horseshoe crabs, strange snails, strange plants, fruits...; ensure safety in the processing and use of toad meat. Particular attention should be given to coastal communities, ethnic minorities in remote, isolated areas.

+ Disseminating regulations ensuring food safety for food service businesses and street food vendors at schools, hospitals, industrial parks, export processing zones, etc. Firms are required to absolutely not use spoiled, damaged, moldy, unclear origin, expired food ingredients and products for processing, trading.

+ Continuing the implementation of contents in the Official Dispatch of the Ministry of Health No. 2487/ATTP-NDTT dated May 11, 2024, on the prevention and handling of food poisoning and Official Dispatch No. 557/ATTP-NDTT dated March 21, 2024, of the Food Safety Department regarding ensuring food safety and preventing food poisoning in 2024.

- Directing, guiding and cooperating with preventive health care facilities, treatment facilities, and related units to strengthen food poisoning surveillance, foodborne disease surveillance in the community. Collaborate with central and local authorities to control the food safety quality of food and water provided by organizations, individuals to support people in flood-hit areas to ensure that no spoiled, moldy, damaged, expired products reach citizens.

- Proactively store drugs, chemicals, equipment, personnel, ready plans to coordinate or independently handle, overcome when food poisoning or food-related diseases occur, preventing their spread in the community.

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