In a normal evening, while Phuong was playing with her toys in the living room, her parents came back home after a long working day with a box of fresh guava.

When Phuong saw the box, her eyes sparkled with joy. “Mommy, can I wash them?” she asked eagerly.

Her mom was stunned. She looked at her husband. He was also speechless. They both turned to their parents, who were in the kitchen preparing dinner. They also heard Phuong’s request and came out to see what was going on. They saw their granddaughter standing with the box of guava in her arms, ready to wash them.

They couldn’t believe their eyes. Phuong was their only child, their only grandchild. They gave her everything she wanted, and they did everything for her. They even spoon-fed her sometimes, even though she was four years old and could eat by herself.

But that evening, something changed. Phuong did not eat the fruit right away but washed it herself first. Phuong followed the correct steps to ensure food safety. She smiled as she felt the water splash on her face and hands.

Phuong had participated in the food safety lessons that the Safe Food for Growth project (SAFEGRO) organized for 336 children (190 boys and 146 girls) in 11 classes at Van Duc Kindergarten. SAFEGRO is a project funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by Alinea International in collaboration with the University of Guelph and MARD, MOH, and MOIT of Viet Nam.

Over 10 days the children learned about the basic principles of food safety and common practices such as handwashing, separating and cleaning food, and how to arrange food in the fridge. Students’ parents were also encouraged to practice with them at home.

When Phuong asked about washing the guava, her mom’s phone notified a message of Phuong’s teacher: ‘Our class has learnt about washing fruits today. I would suggest that parents support them to practice at home’.

The output survey results with children who participated in the program show that more than 80% of children have the 4 basic principles of food hygiene and safety (washing, separating, cooking and cooling), an increase of 20% compared to the initial survey. More than 90% of children correctly practice basic hygiene steps to ensure food safety, such as washing hands, washing fruit, cleaning the dining table, arranging food and preserving food in the refrigerator, an increase of more than 20%. In addition, 22 teachers and nearly 70% of parents of 336 children who participated in the pilot program actively participated in the program and improved their knowledge of hygiene and food safety.

“Participating in the program and teaching the kids made me change my own behavior. I became more careful about storing food in the fridge properly and safely. These practices are very common, but I used to ignore them. Now I think they are very good to follow and share.” Thuy Dzung, Van Duc Kindergarten teacher, said.

In order to maintain the good results, the school board of management intends to integrate the food safety theme into the current curriculum. The school topics for October and November are family and selfcare, which match well with the food safety theme.

A video about food safety is playing for the kids in Van Duc. To watch the video, click on the picture.

Ms. Dao Phuong Lan, Vice Principal of Van Duc Kindergarten, spoke at the meeting to evaluate the results of the implementation of the food safety education program.

The school board of management intends to integrate the food safety theme into the current curriculum.

On a larger scale, SAFEGRO plans to work with the Gia Lam district Bureau of education and training to apply the food safety education program in other schools in the district and, possibly, other schools in Hanoi. In the long run, SAFEGRO expects to work with the ministry of education and training (MOET) for the national application of food safety in kindergarten’s and, eventually, middle schools.

This food safety education program is a part of the gender responsive food safety community model being supported by SAFEGRO in Van Duc commune.

Brian G. Bedard, Director, Food Safety and Animal Health, Alinea International said: “Beside the kindergarten, SAFEGRO hopes to work with farmers, cooperatives, and local markets to engage with key value chain players and the entire community to raise awareness about food safety, change food safety behavior and promote food safety culture towards better public health outcomes”.

Phuong’s story of washing guava inspires the entire SAFEGRO team to hope that she and all children will practice food safety every day, contributing to the development of a robust food safety culture for a healthier Vietnam.

* The character’s name has been changed in accordance with the child protection policy.

Signing ceremony to support selected vegetable and pork value chains in Ha Noi

On 26/7/2023 in Hanoi, the project ‘Food Safety for Development’ (SAFEGRO) in collaboration with the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development (MARD) held the Signing ceremony to support selected vegetable and pork value chains in Hanoi to upgrade the agri-food chain, towards the goal that consumers in Hanoi and Vietnam can have access to food verifiable with quality and safety following international best practices. 

Opening speech during the signing ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Tiep, Director General of the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development said: “The project’s difference is the participation of the entire community ecosystem. Implementation activities will be diversified and richly designed to suit each audience to raise awareness, change behavior about food safety, and promote food safety culture in production and food consumption”. 

Within the framework of the signed cooperation, farmers in the agri-food chain will be supported through training courses and seminars on modern, sustainable, and innovative farming techniques, especially in the context of climate change. 

Van Duc Cooperatives (Gia Lam district) and Hoang Long (Thanh Oai district) will be supported with some technology for food safety management and improvement. The project will also support cooperatives to digitize production planning and management systems, and traceability. Moreover, SAFEGRO also supports the cooperatives to develop regulations and establish community monitoring groups, composed of good farmers, to supervise, manage and guide farmers to produce, handle and process food safely, in accordance with the regulations of quality management systems such as VietGAP, HACCP and accepted international best practice. 

Kindergartens, primary and secondary schools in Van Duc commune (Gia Lam district) will also participate in a Gender responsive food safety education program.  

By integrating food safety content into extra-curricular programs of all levels, as well as consumer communication, engaging actors in all stages of the value chain, SAFEGRO aims to raise awareness about food safety, change food safety behavior, promote food safety culture in food production and processing, small food businesses and consumers, especially young people and women. 

For Kim Quan and Thuong Thanh traditional markets (Long Bien district), meat and vegetable vendors will be supported with training and essential tools for ensuring food safety. The market management board will be introduced to internationally recognized food safety management best practice and exposed to innovations and technology to support social and behavioral change communication for vendors and consumers. 

Through training courses, the market management board will also improve their capacity to supervise and manage the market to ensure food hygiene and safety and develop plans for revitalizing these informal markets. 

The signing ceremony demonstrated the commitment of the parties to improvements in the agri-food chain, vegetables, and meat. 

Mrs. Hong Xiem, Kim Quan Market Management Board said: “We are committed to actively participating in SAFEGRO’s activities. With the knowledge and skills acquired by the project, we will carefully monitor the implementation of food safety in our area”. 

Ms. Phan Thi Phuong Thao, Project Manager of SAFEGRO said: “Beside the above supports, we also focus on digital transformation, supporting people to have more knowledge and tools to reach more customers, as well as building sustainable brand name. In addition, we will also integrate gender in all project activities. Women and girls are always at the heart of our project. 

Through the SAFEGRO project, we aim to improve Vietnamese people’s access to safe, affordable, and competitive agricultural products, thereby helping to improve the well-being of Vietnamese consumers.” 

SAFEGRO funded by the Canadian government of CAD 15.0 million is being implemented by Alinea International in collaboration with the University of Guelph in the two largest residential areas of Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, in 5 years 2021-2025. 

Pictures of the Signing ceremony

Founded in 1901, the British Standards Institute (BSI) is the first organization in the world to issue national standards and is a founder member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) which operates in many fields such as: environment, energy, food, healthcare, information technology and manufacturing; with more than 84,000 customers in 193 countries. BSI not only provides certification activities in Vietnam, but also has a system of experts with experiences in the training and evaluation of management systems according to national and international standards.

The meeting aimed to discuss the process of assessment and certification of food safety management systems, focusing on VietGAP/VietGAHP, HACCP and ISO 22000 standards for the main force agricultural products. Simultaneously, the SAFEGRO Project and BSI’s experts also discussed about training programs and models, practical activities that can be applied and implemented within the SAFEGRO’s framework.

A pork value chain is survey by SAFEGRO Project through a participatory approach. The Project consulted with all actors along the chain, including: M/FM pig farmers, convenience stores, supermarkets, retailers and collective kitchens. Stakeholders from producers to retailers are involved in the discussions where they shared their opinions related to specific nodes in the value chain. Based on the shared information, we can learn about the status of the value chain, focusing on governance of safe food value chain, carry out gap analysis and opportunities for enhancing gender mainstreaming in the pork value chain, the impact of climate change, and the application of science and technology and traceability.

On January 16th, 2023, the group of specialists of the Safe Food for Growth Project (SAFEGRO) had a meeting with the Working Group of Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on vegetable value chain assessment and recommendation for developing sustainable vegetable value chains in Hanoi. The SAFEGRO project is funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by Alinea International. At this meeting, the representative of the GBVCA group presented the survey results of the selected vegetable value chains in Hanoi and proposed the approaches to improve food quality and safety. That adds value to vegetable products.

Talking to the SAFEGRO projects staff and GBVCA working group, the representative of Hanoi Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Sub-Department highly appreciated the research results, which reflected many outstanding features of Hanoi surveyed vegetable value chains including high average working age of the farmers, limited accessibility to new technologies, and conservative mindset. Given those characteristics, the project initiatives need to consider suitable intervention approaches when introducing new technologies, developing supportive measures, training content and interventions to improve the food safety and quality of the vegetable value chain.

Although Hanoi has many agricultural commodity value chains, there is not yet a complete value chain that can be considered as fully integrated and enhanced-value added supply chain. Therefore, the project’s support on upgrading traceability systems can be valuable to the existing simple traceability systems along with capacity building activities for stakeholders.

The Hanoi Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Sub-Department and the Hanoi Plant Protection Sub-Department will coordinate with SAFEGRO project through a working group to develop a realistic approach so that Hanoi can build a pilot model of vegetable value chain that are sustainable and effective in food safety and good quality.

From November to December 2022, gender-based vegetable value chain surveys were conducted at three cooperatives: Van Duc Cooperative, Bac Hong Cooperative, and Yen My Cooperative, all of which are located in the Hanoi suburbs of Gia Lam, Dong Anh, and Thanh Tri.

The gender-based value chain survey aims to identify gender gaps, and to address them with interventions aimed at empowering women and disadvantaged groups, to ensure that all participants in the value chain benefit equally.

The survey of the vegetable value chain used a participatory and feminist approach. The survey interviewed male and female farmers, traders (collectors, wholesalers, and suppliers), agents providing input materials, convenience stores, supermarkets, and collective kitchens. Participants can participate in discussions and share ideas about each stage of the value chain, from producers to consumers. Furthermore, the feminist approach was used in the research and survey process. From research design to data collection, analysis, and action planning. Furthermore, the value chain survey includes representative groups and in-depth consultation to determine which structural determinants are barriers to gender equality and opportunities to empower women. The gender-based value chain survey will examine the gender roles of men and women at each stage of the value chain, as well as the ability of men, women, and weak groups to access and control resources.

According to the findings of a survey conducted with members of Van Duc cooperatives, the majority of field laborers are men and women aged 45 and up. In a cooperative in Hanoi’s outskirts, the elderly aged 60 to 70 account for the majority of the labor force.

In agricultural production, the traditional division of labor is still in place. In this traditional division, women not only work as the primary workers in most stages of vegetable production, but they also play an important role in unpaid work such as childcare, cleaning, and cooking for the entire family.

Women oversee the majority of food choices for the entire family. They are prioritized in food safety training and communication at the cooperative. This fact indicates that the goal of changing food safety awareness and behavior should continue to focus on the group that makes food selection decisions for the family. To avoid putting additional pressure on women to do unpaid work, food safety communication will target both men and women. Because, contrary to what survey participants expected, housework is not gender discriminatory.