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Food Regulation in Vietnam

Lennie Tao Last updated on: Sep 02, 2024

1. Competent authority

Competent authority

Responsibility

Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT)

Management of the following products:

  • Alcohol and alcoholic drinks

  • Soft drinks

  • Processed milk

  • Vegetable oil

  • Flour, starch

  • Confectionery

  • …

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)

Management of the following products:

  • Cereals

  • Meat and meat products

  • Fish and fish products

  • Edible vegetables, roots, tubers and their products

  • Raw milk

  • Honey and honey products

  • Salt, condiments, sugar, pepper

  • Tea, coffee, cocoa

  • Cashew nuts

  • Genetically modified foods

  • …

Ministry of Health (MOH), especially the Vietnam Food Administration (VFA) under MOH

Management of the following products:

  • Bottled water and mineral water

  • Functional foods

  • Micronutrients, food additives, food flavorings, food processing aids

  • Food contact materials

  • Other food products not managed by MOIT and MARD

General Department of Vietnam Customs

Customs inspection, quarantine, and declaration

MARA & MOIT & MOH

Formulation of regulations, and market surveillance

A detailed list of commodities supervised by different authorities can be found at Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP of the Government: Detailing the Implementation of a Number of Articles of the Law on Food Safety.

2. Market access approval

Enterprises shall check the following compliance points before selling their food products to Vietnam.

2.1 Requirements for manufacturers

Manufacturers dealing with products like meat & meat product, aquatic & aquatic products and plant origin products shall get registered with Vietnam authorities. There is no manufacturer registration requirement for prepackaged processed foods.

2.2 Declaration requirements for products

Traders need to finish the product declaration for their goods as per Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP of the Government: Detailing the Implementation of a Number of Articles of the Law on Food Safety (partially amended by Decree No. 155/2018/ND-CP).

Details of the declaration type, applicable product, the procedures of declaration and needed materials are listed below.

Declaration type

Product self-declaration

Registration of product conformity declaration

Applicable product

  • Most prepackaged process foods

  • Food additive and processing acid

  • Food container and food contact material

  • Health supplements, medical foods, and food for special dietary uses

  • Dietary products for children up to 36 months

  • Novel food additives

Procedures for declaration

Food traders submit a dossier for self-declaration of conformity to the competent authority. If the dossier meets the requirements, the competent authority will upload the product’s information on their public system. If the dossier is not satisfactory with the requirements, it will be returned by the authority for correction.


At the same time, food traders will announce the declared dossier about the product at the company's headquarters, upload to their website, or publish on mass media.

Stakeholders should finish the registration of health supplement product before entering the market by submitting materials to VFA. If the submitted materials meet the requirements, the authority will verify the application and issue a Certificate of Registered Product Conformity Declaration afterwards.

Needed materials

  • The self-declaration form (Form No. 01 in Appendix I of Decree No. 15/2018);

  • The original copy or certified true copy of the food safety data sheet, issued by a designated laboratory or a laboratory complying with ISO 17025 within 12 months before the self-declaration is made.

  • Declaration form;

  • A legalized Certificate of Free Sale/Certificate of Exportation/Health Certificate issued by the authority of the exporting country;

  • The testing results, completed within 12 months up to the date of the document submission, issued by recognized laboratories or ISO 17025 accredited laboratories;

  • A documentation proving the scientific evidence of the product or ingredients’ effects;

  • A Certificate of GMP or an equivalent certificate for health supplements;

  • Original Label (in color) and sub-label (in Vietnamese).

2.3 Inspection and quarantine

During the customs clearance stage, products are subject to the state inspection of imported food safety. Animal and plant-origin products need to receive additional quarantine inspection.

Please note:

  • Unless there is an alert issued by the responsible authority, products subject to “Registration of product conformity declaration” (as explained in 2.1) are exempted from import inspection since such products are with Certificate of Registered Product Conformity Declaration.

  • Quarantine requirements for dairy products for children under 36 months old has been removed since 2022.

No.

Item

Legal basis

1

State inspection of imported food safety

2

Quarantine requirements

2.4 Certificate of Satisfaction of Food Safety Conditions

Food traders must obtain the Certificate of Satisfaction of Food Safety Conditions, except for:

  • They are sellers of prepackaged foods;

  • They have one of the following certificates: GMP, HACCP, ISO22000, IFS, BRC, FSSC 22000 or an equivalent certificate;

  • Other situations specified by Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP.

3. Product compliance

Food products shall satisfy general food safety conditions specified in Food Safety Law 2010 and Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP of the Government: Detailing the Implementation of a Number of Articles of the Law on Food Safety (partly amended by Decree 155/2018/ND-CP).

Besides the Food Safety Law and its subordinate regulation, it is important to follow specialized regulations for certain products as well as some safety and hygiene requirements.

Product requirements

Safety and hygiene requirements

4. Label

The Food Safety Law and its implementation rules specify some requirements for labelling: Food Safety Law 2010 and Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP of the Government: Detailing the Implementation of a Number of Articles of the Law on Food Safety (partly amended by Decree 155/2018/ND-CP Amendments to Some Articles Related to Business Conditions Under State Management of the Ministry of Health).

Besides the Food Safety Law and its implementation rules mentioned above, Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP on Goods Labels is the most important regulation for stakeholders to learn, since it is a specialized regulation for product label. In 2021, some articles of Decree No. 43/2017 were amended and supplemented by Decree No. 111/2021/ND-CP. Circular No. 05/2019/TT-BKHCN also provides details for a number of articles of Decree No. 43/2017.

At last, stakeholders also need to check the labeling requirements, if any, raised in specialized regulations for certain products in Chapter 3. Product compliance.

Recommended materials:

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Tags:   VietnamPrepackaged FoodRegistrationRegulation & Standard
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