To describe the general knowledge and practice about the inspection profession of officer in food safety inspection in 30 provinces/cities. Subjects and method: Using the crosssectional descriptive method. Direct interview of research subjects with pre-designed questionnaires.
Journal of military pharmaco-medicine no6-2019 SITUATION OF KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICE ON THE INSPECTION AMONG CIVIL SERVANTS CARRY OUT THE FOOD SAFETY INSPECTION IN 30 PROVINCES/CITIES Tong Tran Ha1; Nguyen Thanh Long2; Le Van Bao3 SUMMARY Objectives: To describe the general knowledge and practice about the inspection profession of officer in food safety inspection in 30 provinces/cities Subjects and method: Using the crosssectional descriptive method Direct interview of research subjects with pre-designed questionnaires A total of 338 subjects participated in this study Results: Regarding knowledge related to "The content of specialized inspection of food hygiene and safety": most of subjects' knowledge about the contents in this section was quite low, all of them were below 50% Less than one-third of subjects (32.54%) correctly answered ≥ 50% of questionaires about general knowledge (32.54%) In practice field: 3.55% of subjects had not been involved in inspection 6.75% of them could not get the main sample due to "Restrictions of equipment and essential tools for sampling and preservation" (77.27%), "No sampling certificate" (55.55%) and "Due to limited capacity, understanding of food sampling and preservation" (36.36%) Only about 47.04% of subjects correctly answered ≥ 50 or more practical questionnaires Conclusion: Knowledge and practice of food safety inspection officers of 30 provinces/cities is still relatively limited Therefore, it is necessary to take some solutions such as training on specialized and regular specialized inspection * Keywords: Food inspection and safety operations; Knowledge; Practice; Food safety INTRODUCTION Food safety has a direct and regular impact on health, even the lives of users, in the long term also affects the ethnic race In term of a socio-economic perspective, food safety has a great influence on economic development, trade, tourism and social security According to a report by the Vietnam Food Administration and some studies, the number of cases, food poisoning cases and deaths were still high (from 2000 to 2010, there were 2,147 cases of food poisoning) with 60,602 cases and 583 deaths [1] In fact, the number of cases of food poisoning were many times higher than the number of cases was detected and recorded [2, 3] The results of inspections in 10 years (2001 2010) showed that the violation rate of food hygiene and safety at inspected establishments was about 20 - 30% Ministry of Health Central Propaganda and Training Commission Vietnam Military Medical University Correspoding author: Tong Tran Ha (tongha82@gmail.com) Date received: 19/06/2019 Date accepted: 06/08/2019 111 Journal of military pharmaco-medicine no6-2019 The contents of violations were mainly detected during the process of major inspection and examination of violations of basic sanitation conditions, violations of equipment, tools and violations of people, violations of labeling, advertising food, non-quality food, unknown origin, origin The above situation showed that the quality management of food hygiene and safety still has many shortcomings, including causes related to capacity (knowledge and practice) of civil servants performing inspection work Therefore, in order to assess the overall and objectively the capacity of civil servants who performed the specialized inspection of food safety, thereby serving as a basis to come up with appropriate and effective interventions, this study was carried out with the goal: To discribe the situation of knowledge, practice on the inspection among civil servants who carried out the food safety inspection in 30 provinces/cities in 2012 SUBJECTS AND METHOD Subjects, location and time of study - Subjects: Civil servants specialized in food safety inspection at the provincial/city level, including the Department of Health Inspectorate and Sub-Department of Food Hygiene and Safety of the selected provinces - Location: The study was conducted in 30/63 provinces/cities, divided into three regions (North, Central and South), including: Northern (12/25 provinces/cities): Hanoi, Hanam, Namdinh, Vinhphuc, Phutho, 112 Tuyenquang, Hoabinh, Sonla, Dienbien, Haiduong, Haiphong, Quangninh; Central region (10/19 provinces/cities): Quangbinh, Quangtri, Thuathienhue, Binhdinh, Phuyen, Khanhoa, Binhthuan, Daklak, Daknong and Lamdong; Southern (8/19 provinces/ cities): Hochiminh City, Dongnai, Binhduong, Tiengiang, Bentre, Cantho, Vinhlong, Dongthap - Research period: From November to December 2012 Method - Study design: The cross-sectional descriptive method - Sample size and sample selection: Assigning 30 provinces/cities based on the request of the Vietnam Food Administration, Ministry of Health Choosing 30 provinces/cities by single random method n= Z2(1-α/2) p (1 − p ) d2 Inside: + n: Minimum sample size + α: Significance levels (α = 0.05) + z: Reliability taken at the probability threshold, α = 0.05, Z(1-α / 2) = 1.96 + p: The rate of estimating civil servants correctly answered ≥ 50% of knowledge questions Since there was no similar study, p = 50% should be taken (p = 0.50) + d: Relative error, expected d = 5% (d = 0.05) Replacing the values in the formula to calculate n = 384 In fact, at the time of investigation, the number of civil servants Journal of military pharmaco-medicine no6-2019 was present in 30 selected provinces/ cities of 457 people, including 119 civil servants being leading officials and 338 civil servants accounting for over 95% of civil servants were employees of Inspectorate of Department of Health and Sub-department of Hygiene and Food Safety In this study, we only analyzed the knowledge and practice of the inspection profession of civil servants Table 1: Number of civil servants in 30 provinces/cities (n = 338) Number Provinces/ cities Quantity Number Province/ cities Quantity Hanoi 21 11 Haiphong 12 21 Dak Nong Hanam 10 12 Quangninh 13 22 Lamdong 12 Namdinh 13 13 Quangbinh 12 23 Hochiminh City 17 Vinhphuc 14 Quangtri 18 24 Dongnai 17 Phutho 15 Thua Thienhue 10 25 Binhduong Tuyenquang 11 16 Binhdinh 13 26 Tien Giang 12 Hoabinh 12 17 Phuyen 27 Bentre 12 Sonla 18 Khanhhoa 28 Cantho 10 Dienbien 19 Binhthuan 29 Vinhlong 11 10 Haiduong 15 20 Daklak 11 30 Dongthap - Variables and indicators: Knowledge about inspection: responsibilities of inspected units; contents need specialized inspection of food safety; people had the right to sanction administrative violations of food safety violations; general assessment of inspection professional knowledge Practice on inspection profession: Type of establishment that has ever participated in inspection; ability to perform test samples; work/content prepared; what has actually been done in conducting an inspection; general assessment of inspection operation practice - Methods and techniques for data collection: Direct interviewed with civil Number Povinces/ cities Quantity servants working on food safety inspection with pre-designed tools When asking, did not read the answer, but just read the question and let subjects thinking by themselves and gave the answer - Data processing methods: + Data were entered with Epidata 3.1 software and were analyzed with Stata software 14.0 Using descriptive statistical tests to analyze results Using frequency tables, charts to describe frequencies and rates according to research variables + To calculate the rate of achieving knowledge and practice in two levels: the group reached ≥ 50% of the correct answers and the group reached < 50% of 113 Journal of military pharmaco-medicine no6-2019 the correct answers The questions asked about making consciousness and practice were equally important - Research ethics: The subject were fully explained about the content and purpose of the study All study subjects confirmed voluntary participation All information of the subject was kept confidential and only for scientific research purposes RESULTS Knowledge about inspection profession of civil servants who carried out the food safety inspection Table 2: Knowledge about the responsibility of the food safety inspection unit (n = 338) Number Contents Quantity % Appointing authorized person to work with inspection/inspection team 188 55.62 Providing full information, documents and timely reports at the request of the inspection team/inspectors 163 48.22 Be responsible before the law for the information, documents and reports provided 167 49.41 Strictly abiding by requests, proposals, decisions and conclusions about inspection and inspection 139 41.12 Knowledge of civil servants about the responsibility of the inspected unit: knowledge about the sub-item "The dispatch of a person with authority to work with an inspection/inspection team" was the highest (55.62%), the lowest was sub-items of units to be examined need: "Strictly comply with requirements, recommendations, decisions, conclusions about inspection and inspection (41.12%) Table 3: Knowledge about content of food safety inspection (n = 338) Number Contents Quantity % The implementation of standards, technical regulations and regulations on food safety 124 36.69 Product labeling 150 44.38 Compliance with regulations on food advertising 156 46.15 Food safety testing activities 127 37.57 Compliance with food safety conditions 126 37.28 Activities of standard and conformity certification 146 43.20 Compliance with regulations on food imports 158 46.75 Knowledge of civil servants about "The content needs specialized inspection of food hygiene and safety: Most of the knowledge of civil servants about the contents in this section was quite low, only reaching less than 50%, of which the lowest was about the subsection: "Jobs implementing standards, technical regulations and food safety regulations” (36.69%) 114 Journal of military pharmaco-medicine no6-2019 Chart 1: Knowledge about people has the right to sanction administrative violations of food safety violations (n = 338) About civil servants' knowledge about people who had the right to sanction administrative violations: only less than 40% of public employees knew: civil servants assigned to implement inspection (34.62%), market management (39.94%), inspection collaborators (39.94%) The most knowledgeable public servants were: chief inspectors, judge of health and public security (both reached 45.27%) Chart 2: Assessing the status of general knowledge about food safety inspection profession of civil servants (n = 338) Chart showed that only less than one-third of civil servants (32.54%) correctly answered over 50% of the general knowledge 115 Journal of military pharmaco-medicine no6-2019 Practice on the inspection profession of civil servants working in food safety inspection Table 4: The type of establishment that has participated in the inspection and the ability to perform testing samples (n = 338) Number Contents Quantity % I Type of establishment that has ever participated in inspection Not joined yet 12 3.55 Having participated, in which 326 96.45 Inspecting food production facility 175 53.68 Inspecting of food business establishments 150 46.01 Inspecting the food importer 122 37.42 Inspecting the street food facility 161 49.39 Inspecting restaurants, hotels, collective kitchens 166 50.92 Inspecting the bottled water facility 236 72.39 II Ability to perform test sampling Yes 316 93.49 No 22 6.51 Due to limited capacity, understanding of food sampling and preservation of samples 36.36 Limitations of equipment and essential tools using for sample collection and preservation 17 77.27 12 55.55 Reasons for not being able to perform sampling (n = 22) 2.1 2.2 2.3 Have no sampling certificate - About the practice of inspection: only 3.55% of civil servants had not been involved in inspection Among the civil servants who had been involved in inspection, the inspection in food production establishments was the most, inspectors at least with food importers (37.42%) - About the ability to perform testing samples: Among civil servants who had participated in the inspection, the majority of civil servants knew how to perform testing samples (93.49%) However, still 6.51% of civil servants could not get the sample due to some reasons: the highest belongs to "Restriction of equipment and essential tools used for taking and preserving samples" (77.27%), followed by “No sampling certificate" (55.55%) and "Limited capacity, understanding of food sampling and preservation of samples" (36.36%) 116 Journal of military pharmaco-medicine no6-2019 Table 5: The work/content prepared and the actual implementation in conducting an inspection (n = 338) Number I Contents Quantity % The work/content prepared to conduct the inspection Receiving information 171 47.55 Information processing 139 42.64 Preparing legal basis (decision on inspection, prepare legal bases to use) 151 46.32 Developing plans and inspection outline 158 48.47 Popularizing inspection plan 143 43.87 Notifying the subject to be inspected before coming to the inspection 124 38.04 Meeting with the subject of inspection before going to the inspection 156 47.85 II Things done when conducting inspections at the facility Announcing the inspection legal basis (inspection decision or inspector card) 134 41.10 Request or outline the facility to report 189 57.98 Checking the legal basis 286 87.73 Listening to the subject of the inspection report 285 87.42 Collecting, checking, verifing information and documents 147 45.09 Collecting exhibits, take samples, implementing urgent solutions 124 38.04 Reporting the inspection progress with the decision maker 142 43.56 Recording inspection delegation 144 44.17 Amending and supplementing the plan for conducting inspection 153 46.93 10 Suspension of on-site inspections to perform other work After a period of further inspection 153 46.93 - On the preparation of inspection: with all contents prepared for the inspection, public servants only knew less than 50% In particular, the lowest was: "Notifying the subject to be inspected before coming” (38.04%) - In particular, what was done when conducting the inspection: 87.73% and 87.42% of the civil servants answered the following contents: "Legal basis check" and "Listening to the inspected subject presented report" However, the content of "Collecting exhibits, taking samples, implementing solutions" had the lowest rate (38.04%) 117 Journal of military pharmaco-medicine no6-2019 Chart 3: Assessing the status of general practice on food safety inspection profession of civil servants The results of chart showed that 47.04% of the public servants correctly answered ≥ 50% of the questions about general practice DISCUSSION In order to ensure food safety for users, in addition to issuing legal documents, technical regulations; improving the capacity of the state management system on food safety; strengthening communication and education for food managers, producers, processors, suppliers, and food users, and inspections play an extremely important role Since early 2009, after the Decree 79/2008/ND-CP of Government [4], a specialized inspection system for food safety in the health sector was established at two levels The specialized inspection system for food safety in the health sector has only been established since early 2009, with forces still had not enough and only formed at the central and provincial/city levels In 2012, the Government issued Decree No 07/2012/ND-CP regulating on agencies 118 assigned to perform specialized inspection and inspection activities, in which the Vietnam Food Administration and Branches Department of Food Hygiene and Safety implemented inspection function on food safety [5] In the context of the newly established Sub-Department of Food Hygiene and Safety, in addition to caring about the number of civil servants, the quality related to implementation capacity (knowledge, practice) of food safety inspection is also a problem that needs to be adequately addressed Knowledge about inspection profession of civil servants who carried out the food safety inspection The first basic task of a public inspection officer was to know what the responsibility of the inspected unit will need to The results showed that the highest level of knowledge about the sub-category "The person with authority to work with the Journal of military pharmaco-medicine no6-2019 inspection/inspection team" was only 55.62%, the lowest percentage was the sub-unit under test that needs: "Strictly abiding by the requirements, petitions, decisions and conclusions on inspection and inspection (only reaching 41.12%) About the content of specialized inspection of food hygiene and safety, most of the civil servants' knowledge about the contents in this section was quite low, all of them were below 50%, of which the lowest was the sub-section: standards, technical regulations and food safety regulations” (with only 36.69%) About those who had the right to sanction administrative violations, only less than 40% of public employees knew about public servants assigned to implement inspection (34.62%), market management (39.94%), inspection collaborators (39.94%) The most knowledgeable public servants were: chief inspectors, judge of health and public security (both reached 45.27%) In summary, only less than one-third of civil servants (32.64%) correctly answered ≥ 50% of general knowledge questions This was a very important result because if the knowledge of the inspector did not guarantee, it could lead to the inspection, the inspection was incorrect, insufficient and not deep, this might create gaps, affecting the calculation legal of food safety inspection Practice on the inspection profession of civil servants working in food safety inspection As the knowledge section, there were many contents in the practice section that must be firmly grasped by inspection officials The results in table showed that only 3.55% of civil servants had not been involved in inspection Among those who had been involved in the inspection, the establishment was inspected at least with the food importer (only 37.42%) One of the important tasks and skills of civil servants doing food safety inspection was to take samples for testing The results of table showed that almost all civil servants knew how to perform testing samples (93.49%) However, 6.51% of them still cannot got the sample due to some reasons: the highest percentage belongs to "Restrictions of equipments and essential tools for taking and preserving samples" (77.27%), followed by "No sampling certificate" (55.55%) and "Limited capacity, understanding of food sampling and preservation" (36.36%) This was similar to the statement in the report on the quality of food hygiene and safety in 2009 of the Vietnam Food Administration [6] Through this, it could be seen that there are still certain limitations related to equipments and basic tools for sampling (missing or not ensuring quality) In addition to this reason, civil servants themselves had recognized that they needed to have a certificate of parallel sampling to improve their qualifications and sampling capacity to meet the job Practical preparation and practical implementation of a food inspection was something that an inspector needs to know However, the results of table showed that all contents were prepared for the inspection, the percentage of civil servants only knew less than 50% In general, only 47.04% of civil servants 119 Journal of military pharmaco-medicine no6-2019 correctly answered ≥ 50 or more practical questions This was a very low rate or in other words, the capacity of inspection profession was still limited This was similar to the statement in the report of the Vietnam Food Administration in 2010, this inspection had many limitations because the compliance with the provisions of the law on inspection was not as good as when the union refer to the facility for food hygiene and safety inspection but did not announce the decision to inspect, or took food samples but did not fully record in the inspection minutes, sampling records [7, 8, 9] From all above results, it was necessary to implement measures such as regular training to improve the knowledge and practice on food safety inspection activities for civil servants assigned to this task CONCLUSION The knowledge and practice of food safety inspection of 30 provinces/cities was still limited About knowledge, related to "The content of specialized inspection of food hygiene and safety": Most of the civil servants' knowledge about the contents in this section was quite low, all of them were below 50% In addition, less than one-third of civil servants (32.54%) correctly answered ≥ 50% of questions about general knowledge About practice: 3.55% of civil servants had not participated in inspection yet 6.51% of civil servants could not get a sample due to some reasons: the highest percentage belonged to "Restrictions of equipments and essential tools to use for taking and preserving samples" (77.27%), "No with sampling 120 certificate” (55.55%) and “Limited capacity, understanding of food sampling and preservation” (36.36%) Only about 47.04% of civil servants answered correctly ≥ 50% or more practical questions REFERENCES Vietnam Food Administration Report on food poisoning situation from 2006 to 2010 and priorities in preventing food poisoning in the coming time Ministry of Health 2011 Vietnam Food Administration - Vietnam Science and Technology Association for Food th Safety Yearbook of the Food Science and Safety Conference Hanoi Publisher 2009, pp.45-46 Nguyen Cong Khan Ensuring food safety and hygiene in Vietnam - Challenges and th prospects, Yearbook of the Food Science and Safety Conference, Hanoi Publisher 2009, pp.11-22 Vietnam Government Decree No 79/2008/ND-CP dated July 18, 2008 on the system of management, inspection and testing of food hygiene and safety 2008 Vietnam Government Decree No 07/2012/ND-CP dated February 9, 2012, Regulation on assigned agencies implementing specialized inspection functions and specialized inspection activities 2012 Vietnam Food Administration Report on the work of ensuring food hygiene and safety in 2009 Vietnam Food Administration Report on the work of ensuring food hygiene and safety in 2006 Vietnam Food Administration Report on the work of ensuring food hygiene and safety in 2007 Vietnam Food Administration Report on the work of ensuring food hygiene and safety in 2008 ... affecting the calculation legal of food safety inspection Practice on the inspection profession of civil servants working in food safety inspection As the knowledge section, there were many contents... was carried out with the goal: To discribe the situation of knowledge, practice on the inspection among civil servants who carried out the food safety inspection in 30 provinces/cities in 2012 SUBJECTS... coming to the inspection 124 38.04 Meeting with the subject of inspection before going to the inspection 156 47.85 II Things done when conducting inspections at the facility Announcing the inspection