HCMC collects $392,000 in food safety fines in first 9 months

The HCMC Food Safety Management Authority has confiscated 12.8 tons of food that is not up to standard quality or of unconfirmed origin.

Pham Khanh Phong Lan, head of the agency, said it has been cracking down on food providers across industrial zones recently and conducting unexpected food safety checks.

It has found 2,600 facilities violating food safety rules and fined 633 of them.

Lan, however, said Vietnam lacks a complete legal framework on food safety and therefore authorities have difficulties in finning facilities that provide food under fake labels or of poor standard.

Vo Van Hoan, HCMC deputy chairman, said that as the city can only meet 20-30% of its own agriculture food needs, it has to source from other localities, and this makes controlling quality more challenging.

The city alone cannot do this, and needs cooperation from other provinces, he stressed.