Dear

- Ministry of Education and Training;
- People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities.

Currently, catering of boarding meals or shift meals at workplace and school is very popular and takes different forms, such as internal catering, outsourced catering of ready-to-eat meals, and contracting between companies to organize collective catering kitchens. Recently, central and local authorities have taken active measures to control food safety, inspect, examine, and handle a lot of offences committed by ready-to-eat meal service providers and collective catering kitchens. However, a number of food poisoning cases have occurred at collective catering kitchens, especially those within industrial zones and schools, affecting the health of workers and students.

Following the direction of the Deputy Prime Minister in the Notice No. 394/TB-VPCP dated December 30, 2022 of the Government Office about the conclusion of the meeting of the Central Interagency Steering Committee on Food Safety, and in order to proactively ensure food safety, effectively prevent food poisoning at workplace and school kitchens, the Ministry of Health is herein requesting the Ministry of Education and Training and the People's Committees of the provinces and centrally-affiliated cities to direct and focus on implementation of the following actions:

1. Strictly implement the regulatory provisions of the Law on Food Safety, the Government’s Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP dated February 2, 2018, detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Food Safety pertaining to regulations on food safety conditions of food service facilities; the Prime Minister’s Directive No. 17/CT-TTg dated April 13, 2020 on continuation in enhancing state management responsibility and state management responsibility for food safety in the new context, which emphasizes that heads of entities in charge of collective catering kitchens must be responsible for food safety in accordance with regulations.

2. Actively develop plans to ensure food safety for local collective catering kitchens at workplace or school, which stipulate that collective catering kitchens within industrial parks/export processing zones, schools, and hospitals must be inspected, supervised, post-inspected, and fully put under the delegated authority with the aim of ensuring that none of those failing to meet food safety requirements can operate.

3. Strengthen interagency examination and inspection, especially the combination of Health and Education sector, in collaboration with the Management Boards of industrial zones/export processing zones, school boards, and leaders of medical establishments in supervising and checking compliance with food safety regulations regarding food origin, processing, preservation, transportation, delivery, three-step verification and storage of food samples at collective catering kitchens within industrial zones/export processing zones, school kitchens, hospital kitchens and facilities that provide ready-to-eat meals for local industrial parks/export processing zones, schools, and medical establishments. Early detect and resolutely handle violations against food safety regulations in accordance with law; publicize violations on mass media to give timely cautions to the community.

For educational institutions, in addition to the above regulations, they is required to strictly comply with the provisions of the Joint Circular No. 08/2008/TTLT-BYT-BGDDT dated July 8, 2008 of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Training, providing guidance on the work of ensuring food hygiene and safety at school; the Joint Circular No. 13/2016/TTLT-BYT-BGDDT dated May 12, 2016 of the Ministry of Health  and the Ministry of Education and Training, issuing regulations on school health work.

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5. Mobilize and promote the roles of mass organizations and trade unions of industrial parks/export processing zones, medical establishments, representative boards of students’ parents, youth unions at school, and social organizations involved in the supervision of health care, food safety assurance, and environmental sanitation within industrial zones/export processing zones, hospitals, and schools.

6. Direct local health units to prepare plans, regular forces, means, supplies and chemicals; promote training sessions for professional forces to be capable of providing medical examination, emergency care and medical treatment services; take actions and mitigate consequences in a timely manner in response to food poisoning situations that locally arise.

Best regards,

PP. MINISTER
DEPUTY MINISTER




Do Xuan Tuyen