HCM City (VNA) -More and more livestock farming companies are adopting VietGap and Global Gapstandards to improve their efficiency as well as ensure food safety, accordingto global quality certification agency Bureau Veritas.

Speaking on the sidelines of the “Conference of dialogue and associating toimprove the food safety chain of meat products in Vietnam” in HCM City on March23, Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, food business development manager at Bureau VeritasVietnam, said “Food safety in Vietnam has seen some improvement recently.”

In the past livestock farms did not known much about VietGap or GlobalGap, butnow many businesses have applied and plan to apply these standards at theirfarms, she said.

Johan den Hartog, managing director of GMPInternational, a global leader in animal feedcertification, said there is a growing trend among food producers inVietnam to supply quality products to both the domestic and export markets.

“To supply safe food to consumers, all companies in the chain need to worktogether,” he said.

He appealed to feed companies to obtain GPM certification saying they are acritical part of the food supply chain in ensuring the safety of end productslike meat, milk, and eggs.

GMP Feed Certification began as a national scheme in the Netherlands in 1992,but has grown into a global scheme that is managed by GMP International incollaboration with various international stakeholders, he said.

He also referred to GMP  Country Note for Vietnam, which seeks to enablecompanies comply with GMP requirements and also local laws.

In Vietnam, there is growing interest in complying with international qualitystandards, and that is why GMP International developed the current GMPCountry Note for Vietnam, he said.

Vietnam is one of the biggest industrial feed producers in Southeast Asia. But80 percent of the ingredients used in production is imported.

A substantial part of the imported feed ingredients could be produced by GMPFSA (feed safety assurance ) certified companies or can be purchased usingstandard gatekeeper protocols, den Hartog said.

Every company and transport and storage service providers in the GMP feedchain should control possible hazards and risks to prevent contaminationof feed products, he said.

He hailed the Vietnamese High Quality Goods Business Association for itsefforts to develop Vietnamese High Quality Products-Global IntegrationStandards (GIS) with measures to monitor the whole food supply chain.

Vu Kim Hanh, Chairwoman of the High Quality Vietnamese Goods BusinessAssociation, said 66 Vietnamese firms have obtained GIS certification.

The association has signed an agreement with GMP International, underwhich GIS would link with GMP FSA to ensure safety of animal and fishfeed, she said.-VNA