On February 20, 2023, the Ministry of Heath
issued Official Dispatch No.787/BYT-ATTP on tightening food safety measures at collective
catering kitchens.
Accordingly, in order to proactively ensure food safety, effectively
prevent food poisoning at workplace and school kitchens, the Ministry of Health
is herein requesting the Ministry of Education and Training and the People's
Committees of the provinces and centrally-affiliated cities to direct and focus
on implementation of the following actions:
- Continue to
enhance state management responsibility and state management responsibility for
food safety in the new context, which emphasizes that heads of entities in charge
of collective catering kitchens must be responsible for food safety in
accordance with regulations.
- Actively
develop plans to ensure food safety for local collective catering kitchens at
workplace or school, which stipulate that collective catering kitchens within
industrial parks/export processing zones, schools, and hospitals must be
inspected, supervised, post-inspected, and fully put under the delegated
authority with the aim of ensuring that none of those failing to meet food
safety requirements can operate.
- Strengthen
interagency examination and inspection, especially the combination of Health
and Education sector, in collaboration with the Management Boards of industrial
zones/export processing zones, school boards, and leaders of medical establishments
in supervising and checking compliance with food safety regulations regarding
food origin, processing, preservation, transportation, delivery, three-step
verification and storage of food samples at collective catering kitchens within
industrial zones/export processing zones, school kitchens, hospital kitchens
and facilities that provide ready-to-eat meals for local industrial
parks/export processing zones, schools, and medical establishments. Early
detect and resolutely handle violations against food safety regulations in
accordance with law; publicize violations on mass media to give timely cautions
to the community.
-
Promote the propagation and education of food safety knowledge, food poisoning
prevention and control measures suitable to each target group (i.e. workers,
pupils, students, officers in charge of food safety, employees, etc.) with
attention paid to food hygiene and personal hygiene in order to raise
awareness, change behaviors and habits that pose food safety risks in selection,
preservation, processing and use of food. Raise the awareness, roles and
responsibilities of heads of entities in charge of collective catering
kitchens, facilities providing ready-to-eat meals, especially Management Boards
of industrial parks/export processing zones, school boards, leaders of medical
establishments in order to ensure sustainable food production and business and
responsibility for public health; praise collective catering kitchens and
facilities providing ready-to-eat meals that strictly comply with the
regulatory provisions of laws on food safety.
Department of Enterprise
Management.