Many food and agricultural products, particularly imported ones, do not meet quality standards, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) at a conference on March 18.

Of 500 fertilizer producers in Vietnam, 60-70% use manual production method.

LookAtVietnam – Many food and agricultural products, particularly imported ones, do not meet quality standards, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) at a conference on March 18.

According to the Ministry, around 71% of imported and 25-33% of locally produced veterinary medicines used in aquaculture failed to meet quality criteria. Up to 59% of samples of animal feeds had E. coli and 5% had Salmonella.

The Animal Husbandry Agency reported that tests of pork in Hanoi and HCM City, in 2008, showed that many samples contained E.coli bacteria and some had Salbutamol and Clenbuterol, which can cause cancer.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Luong Le Phuong, worried that the quality of food imported via the northern border is very poor, while the volume of food and food additives imported through the northern border gate is huge.

In 2008, Vietnam had 84 batches of export seafood warned by importing countries and two categories of goods that were refused import by the US and the EU, dragon fruit and honey bee.

This year, inspectors discovered 40 out of 105 fertilizer samples and nine samples of pesticides failed to meet the quality announced by producers and four fertilizer companies breached the rules. Of 500 fertilizer producers in Vietnam, 60-70% use manual production method.

Vietnam will quickly build technical barriers to prevent low-quality imports and build food quality testing laboratories to ensure good quality for export items. The government recently approved a food hygiene control program to 2010 worth VND1 trillion ($58.8 million).