Assessment of the Success of the Measures on Safer Food for Better Health

Abstract

In the year 2006, Ministry of public health implemented food safety measures in every province. The important strategy was food safety integrated plans for health protection. This study aimed to evaluate the success of food safety measures by measuring percentage of production/manufacturing sites and dis-tribution of food’s standard level, together with the reduction of the prevalence of chemical and biological contaminants and decreasing number of food poisoning cases. The study found that 83.15% of the pro-duction/manufacturing sites and distribution for all types of food in 76 provinces were at standard level. The prevalence of chemical contamination and number of cases with food poisoning decreased significantly when compared with the years before the implementation of the food safety measures (p<0.05). Thus, the Government should assign responsible persons in the relevant government agencies at all levels to sustain the food safety measures in order to develop national food control system that is complied with the direction set by Codex Alimentarius Commission (CODEX); and to achieve the expectation of the country to become a world kitchen.