Tight controls over unknown fresh food

Functional force in Quang Ninh province destroyed illegally imported fresh foods.

According to the Customs agency, in recent times, the illegal import, smuggling, and illegal transportation of fresh goods ineligible to import, has occurred and so directly affects public health.

According to the statistics of Customs authorities, in the first 10 months of 2016, the Customs enforcement team has coordinated to detect, arrest and handle many cases involving violations of fresh food items. Acts of violation are mainly transporting goods without legal documents, imports of goods by declared wrong type or quantity, etc.

A typical case is the seizing of 12,795 kg meat, the estimated value is 1.5 billion vnd in the Quang Ninh sea area; 167,968 ​​kg of frozen boneless buffalo meat with total value of over 12 billion vnd through the Saigon port area 1; 15,455 kg of white beans in An Giang Province; 18,000 breeding birds, 1,800 kgs of commercial chicken meat, 2,000 kgs frozen buffalo meat, 1,900kg of frozen fish, 60,000 seed oysters in Quang Ninh; etc.

In order to more effectively control the above situation, the General Department of Customs has asked all units to implement seriously, timely and efficiently each direction of the Government, National Steering Committee 389, and the Ministry of Finance about strengthening inspection and control of the smuggling, and sales of unhealthy food items and fresh food with unclear origin.

In addition, the General Department of Customs also directed the unit to comply Customs procedures to strengthen inspection and supervision, and strictly control shipments of fresh food which are identified as high-risk.

Furthermore, the General Department of Customs directed the units when implementing Customs procedures, to check carefully the license granted by specialized management agencies for import shipments. In case of detecting incomplete shipment import conditions, they have to resolutely stop Customs clearance and handling of goods according to regulations.

Besides that, the units should strengthen information collection, analysis and processing. Control the movements in each key area; identify key perpetrators and screen for management; and efficiently use the network of collaborators, who are not on the payroll of the Customs authorities.

At the same time, the General Department of Customs shall direct the local Customs Department to collaborate with functional forces in the province to promptly detect, arrest and strictly handle acts of smuggling and illegally transporting fresh food.