Ministry to introduce new food labelling standards

Deputy Minister of the Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu has announced a raft of new measures to ensure food safety at a conference on agricultural product distribution.

Deputy Minister of the Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu has announced a raft of new measures to ensure food safety at a conference on agricultural product distribution.

Cu Chi District residents shop for rice and other agricultural products that were produced under VietGap standards by the Tho Viet Agricultural Co-operative.

Under the plans, four food types will soon be sold with green labels to inform consumers that they meet the standards of the Good Aquaculture Practices (VietGAP) and were produced under the Food and Agricultural Products Quality Development and Control Project (FAQDC).

The four categories will be: vegetables, fruit, pork and chicken.

Speaking at the conference run by the Canada-funded FAQDC, Thu said the labels would also help ensure the food origins and hygiene, while preventing the appearance of fake VietGAP products, she said.

The green labelled goods will be supplied to schools and retail distributors such as BigC and Co-opMart, accompanied by a large advertising campaign covering mass media, transportation means and retailers.

Nguyen Van Thuan, an assistant to the project, said FAQDC had focused on assisting farmers through technical support and promoting consumption.

Tran Duc Vinh, chaiman of the Yen My Co-operative in Thanh Tri District, said the project had helped change the traditional production process of local farmers. Currently, goods produced in the co-operative were sold at its four retail stores in the city and to four city-based companies.

Thanks to this, profits earned by local farmers had increased by up to 20 per cent, Vinh said.