Early inspection, tightening food safety for Mid-Autumn Festival 2025

Many moon cake stalls have been set up by businesses and establishments early to meet the increasing shopping and gift-giving needs of the people.

Salted egg inspection team at 5-star Pan Pacific hotel.

Faced with that reality, Hanoi has implemented food safety work earlier than every year, with the goal of both preserving the quintessence of traditional culinary culture and protecting public health during this special holiday.

In a proactive spirit, the Hanoi Department of Food Safety and Hygiene has established two surprise inspection teams to review food safety work at restaurants and hotels, especially those that produce and trade products for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Recently, an inspection team led by Mr. Dang Thanh Phong, Head of the Hanoi Food Safety and Hygiene Department, conducted an on-site inspection at two 5-star hotels, Sheraton Hanoi and Pan Pacific Hanoi.

Through inspections at the Sheraton and Pan Pacific hotels, the Hanoi Food Safety and Hygiene Department noted that the kitchen area was arranged reasonably, clean, with clear processing zones, using new stainless steel equipment to replace old tools, meeting hygiene standards.

Hotel representatives also provided full legal documents related to production activities, health check-ups and training records of employees directly involved in processing.

The Head of the Hanoi Food Safety and Hygiene Department said that up to now, 19 out of 20 5-star hotels in the city have organized the production of moon cakes to serve the Mid-Autumn Festival. The inspection team also took 4 samples of cakes at the hotels for testing, and initial results showed that the products basically met food safety requirements.

In addition to large hotels, the authorities also pay special attention to inspecting small-scale cake production facilities. According to Mr. Dang Thanh Phong, food safety incidents often occur at these facilities due to failure to ensure legal conditions, lack of control over the origin of raw materials and failure to fully implement the product declaration process.

Therefore, the People's Committees of communes and wards have been assigned the task of strengthening inspections, especially surprise inspections, to absolutely not allow unsafe food products to circulate on the market.

To improve monitoring effectiveness, food safety training programs are being widely deployed in 126 communes and wards across the city. This is an important activity to raise awareness and monitoring capacity at the grassroots level, especially for small-scale establishments and households doing traditional jobs.

The Hanoi Department of Food Safety and Hygiene also issued a warning to consumers: do not buy "super cheap" moon cakes of unknown origin, sold widely online or at locations that do not ensure hygiene conditions.

People should choose products with full labels, expiry date, intact packaging, not deformed, moldy, rancid or have strange smell. At the same time, it is necessary to preserve and use according to the manufacturer's instructions to ensure product quality and personal health.

Previously, Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Vu Thu Ha issued a plan to inspect and post-audit food safety for the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2025, lasting from August 15 to October 10, deployed in 126 wards and communes across the city.

The focus of the inspection was on food production, processing and trading establishments, especially moon cakes, candies, beer and soft drinks. These are items with strong consumption during the holidays.

The authorities will conduct regular and surprise inspections, strictly handling violations of hygiene conditions, origin of raw materials, labels, expiry dates, etc. to ensure legitimate rights for consumers.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/kiem-tra-som-siet-chat-an-toan-thuc-pham-dip-tet-trung-thu-2025-d383252.html