Vegetables on sale at a traditional market. The HCM City Department of Industry and Trade has chosen Hoc Mon Wholesale Market and Ben Thanh Market to implement a pilot food-safety market model. — VNS Photo Doan Tung

HCM CITY — The HCM City Department of Industry and Trade has chosen Hoc Mon Wholesale Market and Ben Thanh Market to implement a pilot food-safety market model, according to a report in Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

At Hoc Mon wholesale market, slaughtered pigs are transported to the market and then cut up and sold to small traders at traditional markets in the city.

The processing phase done at the market is clean and input tests are also done before the pork is sold.

"I don't know about other places, but at this market pork must have a quarantine seal," Son, a pork trader at the Hoc Mon Wholesale Market, said.

For many traders, the application of the safe food chain model at the market has brought many benefits.

Many wholesale buyers previously were afraid of buying pork containing substances that make pigs lean.

"Now it is good for me to sell pork with a clear origin and quarantine," said Hoan, another pork trader at the market.

Small traders at many other markets not included in the city's pilot programme have strongly backed the new model.

"Around the market, especially in the afternoon, a lot of pork is sold and I don't know about its quality. Only pork bought from wholesale markets and having a quarantine seal is allowed to sell inside the market," Truong, a trader at Hoang Hoa Tham Market in Tan Binh District, said.

Similarly, traders at Ben Thanh Market were excited about the new programme.

Tu Thi Muoi, a pork trader at the Ben Thanh Market for more than 30 years, said that both consumers and traders expected the model to be implemented soon.

"Customers at my stall will feel secure about the origin of goods I sell," she said.

Many vegetable and fruit traders at the market agreed that both consumers and sellers want to use safe products.

Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, said the food safety chain model at the two markets aimed to bring safe products to consumers.

The pilot programme chose only two items, pork and vegetables, so that product traceability could be done easily, he said.

Identifying safe pork

Nguyen Hong Tham, director of An Ha Company, said that last October it opened its first stall selling pork that meets VietGap standards at Hoa Binh Market in District 5.

The company purchases pigs from HCM City-based households practicing VietGap standards in their breeding.

The company has set aside an area in its slaughterhouse to distinguish pigs that meet VietGap standards from normal ones before distributing the meat to the market.

Feedback from customers was positive. Many customers living far from the market also buy safe meat at the market.

Tham said it was not easy to distinguish VietGap pork from other pork.

But pork containing substances to make the ainmals lean usually has more red colour than those without the substance, she said. — VNS