Improving quality of agricultural products to ensure food safety

Building a safe agricultural product supply chain

According to the Provincial Sub-Department of Cultivation, Plant Protection and Quality Management of Agricultural Products, the province has 2,043 food production and trading establishments, of which 877 establishments have been granted certificates of food safety conditions. Up to now, the Sub-Department has set up 25 supply chains of safe agricultural products for vegetables, rice, chicken, pork and seafood. The Sub-department has coordinated with the Ho Chi Minh City Food Safety Management Board to implement and issue 10 certificates of eligibility to participate in the safe food supply chain for Ho Chi Minh City for chicken, eggs, beef, fish sauce, vegetables, bananas.

Director of the Sub-Department of Cultivation, Plant Protection and Quality Management of Agricultural Products - Nguyen Van Cuong said: “Many agricultural products of the province have been consumed inside and outside the province. Therefore, the Provincial Agriculture sector always focuses on traceability to improve competitiveness and efficiency in state management of production and food safety.

Over the past time, the Sub-department has issued more than 2 million QR codes to trace the origin of safe food to cooperatives, businesses and production facilities in the province. Supported products are those that are certified as safe food supply chains such as vegetables, rice, dragon fruit, lemons, etc. With the traceability QR stamp, consumers can look up product information such as varieties, grower's name, harvest date, storage instructions, product images, etc.

Hydroponic vegetables are one of the key products of Phuoc Hoa Safe Vegetable Cooperative

Phuoc Hoa Safe Vegetable Cooperative (hamlet 3, Phuoc Van commune, Can Duoc district) is one of the first units to be granted a certificate of participation in the safe food supply chain in the province. The cooperative has actively applied high technology to produce clean and safe vegetables. It has 62 members with more than 20 hectares of vegetables. The strength of the cooperative is growing leafy vegetables, tubers, fruits, spices, hydroponic vegetables, ect. which have met VietGAP standards and have been certified for a safe food chain. Every day, the cooperative supplies about 2 tons of vegetables to the market and collective kitchens in the province," said Phuoc Hoa Safe Vegetable Cooperative Director - Kieu Anh Dung.

The Provincial Sub-Department of Cultivation, Plant Protection and Quality Management of Agricultural Products is establishing 3 more safe agricultural product supply chains for vegetables of Phuoc Tien Hi-tech Cooperative (Can Giuoc district), dried dragon fruit of HG Food Company (Thu Thua district) and lemon products of Lemon Viet Long An Investment and Trading Joint Stock Company (Ben Luc district).

Employees of Chanh Viet Long An Trading and Investment Joint Stock Company preliminarily process lemons before deep processing

According to Director of Chanh Viet Long An Trading and Investment Joint Stock Company - Nguyen Van Hien, the company currently has about 100 hectares of organic seedless lemons. This is the main source of raw materials for processing products such as lemon powder, lemon tea powder, lemon essential oil, dried lemon peel, and so on. The establishment of a safe agricultural product supply chain helps to improve the reputation of our products. This is also a necessary condition for the company to access more new markets.

Strengthen inspection and supervision

In recent years, the Provincial Agriculture Department has focused on propagating, training, inspecting and monitoring the quality of food safety in agriculture at food production and trading establishments. The sector will inspect facilities that have substandard samples to determine the cause, ask them to remedy and commit to safe production, and transfer administrative violations.

In the first nine months of 2022, the Provincial Agriculture Department has collected 1,034 samples of agricultural, forestry and fishery products at local markets and supermarkets to monitor food safety indicators. As a result, most of the samples met the standard. In addition, the industry inspected 114 establishments and collected 27 samples; the test results were all passed. In 4 cases of violation, there is 1 case of violation because of stagnant wastewater; 2 cases of violations because of trading in self-declared products that have at least one of the food safety criteria inconsistent with regulations; 1 case of violation because people in direct contact with food did not wear labor protection according to regulations.

Customers buy agricultural products at a convenience store in Ben Luc district

By 2025, the whole province is expected to establish and maintain at least 37 safe food supply chains; at least 50 percent of key agricultural products; 100 percent of food producers, preliminaries, processors and traders, managers participating in the chain model have knowledge about food safety in the chain; 100 percent of the original production facilities are GAP certified or signed a commitment to safe production. In addition, the processing or slaughter facilities are certified to meet food safety conditions or equivalent. Products of the chain are sampled and monitored for food safety; traced by electronic stamps; promoted and consumed through the province's supply-demand connection system for safe agricultural products and other e-commerce platforms.

Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Nguyen Thanh Truyen said: “In the coming time, the Department will coordinate to strengthen inspection and supervision of the quality of agricultural, forestry and fishery products; periodically appraise and classify the establishments; periodically appraise and classify establishment and confirm the safe food supply chain, contributing to creating positive changes in ensuring food safety, improving the quality and competitiveness of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products in the province”.

By Bui Tung - Translated by P.Ngan

Source: https://baolongan.vn/nang-cao-chat-luong-nong-san-gop-phan-bao-dam-an-toan-thuc-pham-a142580.html