Food Safety Crucial for Vietnamese Farm Produce Export

Vietnam has high potential to ship its agricultural products to foreign markets, especially countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, however, the export revenues will depend on whether the Vietnam-sourced farm produce can meet strict safety standards set by the importers. Fruit and vegetables are among the commodities Vietnam has an advantage in when it comes to the TPP. They made inroads into many demanding markets in 2015, including major TPP members like the U.S., Japan and Australia. One of the most critical factors in Vietnam's export of fruit and vegetables is to control chemical residues, said Nguyen Xuan Hong, director of the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Mr. Hong said his agency will tighten control over the use of plant protection chemicals this year while encouraging the use of advanced technology to reduce the need for those substances. Eliminating the use of toxic chemicals will help minimize not just production expenses, but also food risks due to pesticide residue, he said, noting that Vietnam aims to cut the spending on plant protection chemical use by half by 2020. Though the country has sent many kinds of fruit abroad, including dragon fruit, mango, lychee and longan, to many strategic markets like the U.S., Japan and Australia, the point is to produce large quantities while meeting importers' food safety and plant quarantine standards, Hong stressed. He assured Vietnamese exporters that his department will be able to help them treat products in line with importers' health quarantine criteria. All businesses need to do is ensure food safety through good agricultural practices. He suggested multiplying good cultivation role models and increasing coordination between enterprises and farmers as well as among enterprises themselves, noting that if a product from one company does not pass quarantine checks, importing countries will stop buying the same goods from all Vietnamese firms. The poor performance of one company will affect the entire exporter community, the official emphasized. According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam earned $2.2 billion from selling fruit and vegetables abroad in 2015, a record annual increase of 47%. The country is home to more than 100 fruit and vegetable processing factories, which can produce 300,000 tons of products each year. Vietnam exports fruits and vegetables to 40 countries and territories. (Vietnam News Feb 15)