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Promoting the Role of the Hanoi Women's Union in Food Safety Advocacy, Production, and Business

01/08/2023

On July 31, the Hanoi Women's Union, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hanoi, organized a seminar titled "Promoting the Role of the Women's Union in Food Safety Advocacy, Production, and Business in a New Context."

Vice Chairwoman of the Hanoi Women's Union Pham Thi Thanh Huong speaking at the seminar.

In her opening remarks at the seminar, Vice Chairwoman of the Hanoi Women's Union, Pham Thi Thanh Huong, stated that in recent years, the Women's Union at all levels in the city has been proactive in disseminating knowledge and raising awareness among its members and women about the importance of ensuring food safety for the health of families and the socio-economic development.

Delegates attending the seminar are discussing food safety matters in the auditorium.

The Hanoi Women's Union has guided districts and towns to develop and expand numerous models that ensure food safety. The model of "the Women's Union aiming for behavior change in food safety" has been widely and effectively implemented, helping members raise awareness about food safety and change the behaviors in food production, processing, business and consumption, thereby safeguarding health for themselves, their families, and the community.

An overview of the seminar "Promoting the Role of the Women's Union in Food Safety Advocacy, Production, and Business in a New Context."

At the same time, the Women's Union has actively collaborated with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hanoi to provide training on safe vegetable production and consumption, introduce safe food products to consumers in the city, establish safe food distribution points, and apply information technology, digital transformation, and e-commerce to promote and connect the consumption of safe agricultural and food products to consumers in the capital.

Guests of the seminar visiting the product introduction booth at the event.

According to the report from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, there are 14,033 agricultural, forestry, and aquatic production and business establishments, 906 agricultural, forestry, and aquatic production and business enterprises, of which about 40% are women-owned. There are also over 1,650 cooperatives and individual businesses engaged in preliminary processing, processing, and preservation of agricultural products.

The product introduction booth of Tu Tam Clean Food Company.

Hanoi has established and developed 159 chains of safe production, processing, and supply of agricultural products. Many closed chains have been organized, from production to distribution and consumption, creating strong product brands in the market such as Hoang Long Cooperative, Organic Green pork, Tien Vien CP chicken eggs, and Kinoko Thanh Cao mushrooms.

A booth selling tea products in the supply chain in Hanoi on the sidelines of the seminar.

In the first six months of 2023, the department's units have organized 58 conferences, workshops, training courses, and dissemination classes on the quality of materials and food safety of agricultural products with more than 5,600 participants. The units have also strengthened their coordination with women's unions at all levels to innovate and diversify their communication activities, disseminate knowledge on food safety recognition, and provide guidance on processing, preservation, and the use of safe food.

Food safety and quality supervision have been widely implemented, focusing on high-risk products. On average, the department's units take about 2,500 samples of agricultural, forestry, and aquatic products for monitoring and risk warning each year, with 5.8% of the samples found, violate standards. The monitoring results show a significant reduction in the violation rate of microbiological criteria in livestock and poultry meat (6% in 2021 and 4% in 2022). The violation rate of chemical criteria (pesticides, antibiotics and preservatives) has also tended to decrease over the years. In the first six months of 2023, all samples monitored by the department met food safety standards.

Some products displayed at the exhibition.

During the seminar, delegates shared useful information about ensuring food safety in agricultural, forestry, aquatic production, and business in the city, as well as solutions to enhance food safety in these sectors. They discussed the current role of women's unions in promoting production, business, and consumption of safe agricultural products and proposed further measures for the future.