VietNamNet Bridge – Nearly 100 per cent of 1,833 food and drink samples tested in HCM City from May to November have not reached full standards for hygienic food.

The samples belong to 12 food groups, including meat, vegetable, fruit, seafood, milk, cereal, sauce and spice, soft drinks, confectionary, coffee and tea, beverages and wine, and functional food.

Sixty-two criteria were applied to food items bought randomly in supermarkets, markets and kiosks around the city.

More than 50 per cent of samples did not meet any criteria. Most of them were produced at private and small businesses, with no brandnames, and were sold outside supermarkets.

Vegetables led the list, with 91 per cent of the samples failing to meet standards, followed by seafood with 84 per cent, beverage and wine with 61 per cent, and meat, cereal, sauces and spices amounting to 58 per cent.

"We want to plan for a safe Lunar New Year," Phan Thi Kim, head of the Viet Nam Science and Technology Association for Hygienic Food, told a seminar yesterday about how to increase the quality of food during the Tet festival in HCM City.

Relevant authorities should increase investigation into production facilities and wholesale markets, and should impose strict punishments on violations.

Promoting education about hygienic food for customers and introducing prestigious food brandnames are urgent works.

On January 5, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will launch a one-month programme to ensure safe food for the upcoming Tet holiday.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News