Could the introduction of more supermarkets improve Saigon’s food hygiene and safety?
According to Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Huynh Trang, the city is planning to establish about 50 new supermarkets and 2,000 convenience stores from now until 2025, reports VietnamNet.
The news was shared during a conference titled “Eat Clean — Live Green” held on December 13 at Dam Sen Amusement Park. Trang added that the new modern markets will help the city monitor food origins more effectively to ensure food safety for consumers.
According to her, Saigon currently has 204 supermarkets, 44 shopping malls, over 2,300 convenience stores, three wholesale markets and more than 500 traditional markets. Supermarkets and convenience stores account for 30% of total revenue of the city’s retail sector while most of local residents’ shopping needs are still fulfilled at traditional wet markets.
Head of the HCMC Food Safety Department Pham Khanh Phong Lan announced at the forum that the city recently made deals with partners in Long An and Lam Dong provinces, where many agricultural and animal husbandry activities take place to provide produce for Saigon. All steps of the production, from harvesting to processing to packaging, will be closely monitored to ensure food safety.
A report released last year on global shopping trends showed that Vietnamese are slowly changing their shopping habits as more modern retail outlets are established. Specifically, back in 2010, citizens only visited convenience stores 1.24 times on a monthly average; this increased to 4-5 times in 2018. Conversely, people used to make 25.17 trips per month to traditional markets in 2010 while now the figure is only 18.86.
