January 19, 2012

Vietnamese provinces sign agreement on food safety

A cooperation agreement on food safety and hygiene at farms has been signed by authorities of HCM City and five provinces - Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Long An, Tien Giang and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

HCM City now consumes nearly 9,000 pigs and 120,000 chickens a day. The five provinces sell huge volumes of cattle and poultry meat in the city, with pork accounting for 83.2%, chicken for 89.8% and poultry eggs for 59.7%.

Truong Thi Kim Chau, Deputy Head of the HCM City Animal Health Bureau, said the six-party cooperation would help improve food safety checks, especially during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays in which food demand runs very high.

This is part of a series of activities under the Government's pilot plan to develop a safe food store chain in HCMC.

On the occasion, Saigon Co.op, the owner of the Co.opMart store chain, signed trading deals with representatives of a number of food suppliers that will join the safe food chain like Vissan, Sagrifood, Binh Minh and Vinh Thanh Dat.