58% of Food Facilities in HCM City Unsafe

HCMC inspectors had found 58% of 1,377 food production and trading facilities in the city breaching food safety regulations and fined them VND2.5 billion ($110,326) in total, aside from shutting down two which made serious violations, the Vietnam News Agency reports. The information was announced at a seminar held recently to summarize a pilot program to inspect food safety compliance in five districts of the city during the past year. Nguyen Hung Long, deputy head of the Agency of Food Safety under the Ministry of Health, suggested the city continue its inspections and impose financial sanctions on violators. (http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/ Dec 5)