Minister Dao Hong Lan: Inspected 354,000 establishments, discovered 22,073 establishments violating food safety regulations

In 2024, the Ministry of Health inspected 354,000 establishments and discovered 22,073 establishments violating food safety regulations; of which 9,043 establishments (43.9%) were handled, with fines of over VND 33 billion.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan - Photo: GIA HAN

On the morning of June 20, during the question-and-answer session with Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan explained a number of issues of concern to delegates related to ensuring food safety for school meals.

Adequate food safety regulations in schools

Ms. Lan said that food safety for people in general, for students in schools from kindergarten to university, and ensuring health for the country's young generation is a very important task.

Therefore, the Government 's inter-sectoral steering committee as well as ministries and branches have deployed many solutions to this problem.

Regarding school food safety, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Training have coordinated to deploy many solutions based on laws and guidelines on food safety.

The two ministries have jointly issued many joint circulars, such as Circular 08/2008 on food safety in schools and Circular 13/2016 on school health, with detailed instructions on food safety.

The two ministries have also agreed on guidelines with the goal of ensuring food hygiene and safety in schools, preventing food poisoning and foodborne diseases. The higher goal is to ensure the quality of meals and nutrition for the country's young generation.

Each student, teacher and worker must strictly comply with relevant regulations and participate in propaganda to raise awareness about food safety issues.

When poisoning incidents occur, solutions must be found to ensure the health of students.

The Minister of Health also said that the issue of food safety qualifications has been given detailed instructions in the past.

Schools with boarding/semi-boarding kitchens must ensure facilities and food safety according to QCVN 07-2010 (Ministry of Health), Circular 06 (infectious diseases) and Circular 30/2012 (food service business). People working in the kitchen must ensure health according to Circular 15 (Ministry of Health).

Schools that do not have boarding or semi-boarding kitchens but have signed contracts with facilities that meet food safety requirements must still comply with Circular 13/2016 on equipment, facilities, human resources, supply chain and food processing.

"Thus, in terms of legal basis, we have focused on building and specifying many contents related to the subjects participating in the food supply chain in schools," Ms. Lan emphasized.

Cooperate with the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises to professionalize the supply of school meals

Regarding inspection and examination, Ms. Lan said that the Ministry of Health has also coordinated with the Ministry of Education and Training and local People's Committees to strengthen inspection, examination, and post-inspection in this field.

For example, in 2024, the Ministry of Health also focused on inspecting 354,000 establishments, detecting 22,073 establishments with food safety violations; of which 9,043 establishments (43.9%) were handled, with fines of over 33 billion VND.

On the other hand, the ministry also focuses on post-inspection of school kitchens, as well as communal kitchens. Because in these places, if poisoning occurs, many people will be affected.

During the implementation process, the education sector, the health sector and local government agencies also closely coordinated and had the participation of parent representatives to control meals in schools.

However, Ms. Lan admitted that the problem of food insecurity in schools still exists, due to many subjective and objective reasons.

Subjective causes such as hot weather conditions, processing and implementation methods that do not meet standard conditions.

On the other hand, according to Ms. Lan, another reason is that transparency has not been ensured in the process of providing meals for students, including quantity, quality, and funding sources.

There are places where the implementation has not yet been in accordance with regulations, and there are places where the standards and quality of meals for students have been reduced. "In the near future, we will have to strengthen inspection and supervision of this content," Ms. Lan said.

Delegate Nguyen Van Than - Photo: GIA HAN

According to Ms. Lan, today there was an opinion from delegate Than (delegate Nguyen Van Than - Chairman of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises) on the issue of the two ministries coordinating with the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises to ensure the supply of meals.

Ms. Lan acknowledged: "This is a solution to professionalize this work. Because now there are many types of supply such as through production and business establishments registered for food services, some places where the girls cook themselves or hire others to cook. Therefore, ensuring a common standard still has difficulties."

Ms. Lan said: "We are ready to coordinate with the association and the education sector to implement this professionally, meeting food safety requirements, providing services and traceability, ensuring quality according to regulations."

Ms. Lan is still concerned about the difficulty of coordination in remote areas and areas with limited conditions. She suggested improving the responsibility of food processing teams at educational institutions and is ready to coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Training to implement this.

TIEN LONG - NGOC AN - THANH CHUNG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-truong-dao-hong-lan-kiem-tra-354-000-co-so-phat-hien-22-073-co-so-vi-pham-ve-an-toan-thuc-pham-20250620105923626.htm