Agri-minister apologizes for saying most foods in Vietnam are safe

Vietnam’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat has had to extend a public apology for claiming that most foods in the country are safe and that consumers are to blame for being unaware of that so-called 'fact.'

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat
 

Phat told a lawmaking National Assembly meeting in Hanoi on April 1 that “most of our foods are safe, but the people do not know [of this], so they feel all foodstuffs are unsafe.”

The statement immediately sparked outrage among both lawmakers and consumers in a country where food scandals are not uncommon.On Sunday, Phat arranged a meeting with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper to correct himself, saying he had not “expressed [himself] clearly enough,” leading to the misunderstanding.

“Due to limited time at the meeting, I did not make it clear enough, so people are angry,” he said.

Phat explained by saying “most foods are safe,” he was referring to the safety tests his ministry had carried out on certain vegetables and meat.

The agriculture authorities have taken nearly 6,000 samples of food for testing in the last five months, Phat told the Friday meeting.

Of these, 5.17 percent of the vegetable samples were found to contain an excessive amount of plant protection drug residues, while 1.92 percent of the meat surpassed the allowed rate of antibiotics and banned chemicals.

The minister concluded that such a low proportion indicated that “most of our foods are safe,” a statement he had to rectify during the Sunday talk with Tuoi Tre.

“Of course these two examples are not reflective of the whole food industry,” he admitted.

“We need more information and data to comment on the safety situation of the entire food sector rather than just two statistics.”

As for the statement that most people are unaware that foods in Vietnam are safe, Phat said it was a "slip of the tongue" because he was “quite hurried in [his] speech.”

“I should have said ‘most people do not know which food is safe and which is not’,” he told Tuoi Tre.

The minister added he had “omitted the last words,” which made his statement misleading.

After clarifying what he actually wanted to say at the National Assembly meeting, Minister Phat said he also wanted to say sorry.

“I would like to send my apology to members of the public for the mistakes I made during my speech at the National Assembly meeting,” he told Tuoi Tre.

Vietnam’s food safety is said to be in an alarming state, as many local farmers do not hesitate to use banned chemicals and other substances to boost the growth of plants and cattle to earn fast and easy money.

Authorities are being rapped for their loose management, which has failed to stop people from using banned chemicals or to properly crack down on sellers of dirty food.

Consequently, the statement made by the agriculture minister only served to fuel the public’s anger over tainted food.

People have mocked Minister Phat by saying his family must be eating imported food so he had no idea how the real safety of locally grown foodstuffs is now in the market.

The minister, however, rejected such accusations immediately.

“My family is just like every other family in Hanoi,” he said.

“We eat at sidewalk eateries and we use the same food as other people.”

Khoa Le

Source: Tuoi Tre News