Vietnam Issued the Second Draft of Circular on Nutrition Labeling for Foods

Vietnam released the second draft¹ of the circular on nutrition labeling for foods in early February 2023. The circular consists of three chapters and three annexes, providing guidelines on the labeling of nutritional ingredients and nutritional values, as well as the implementation roadmap for foods circulated in Vietnam.

Chapter 1 outlines the general rules of the circular and introduces an optimized legal basis and an extended list of 11 food products exempted from the circular, such as health supplements and alcoholic beverages.

Chapter 2 describes in detail the content and method of declaring nutritional components and nutritional value. For products in which the nutritional value of a component is below the value instructed in Appendix III, it is not required to label that nutritional component. If companies choose to label that nutritional component voluntarily, they shall follow this regulation. Table 1 below clarifies the nutritional labeling requirements for food products in different situations.

Table 1 Explanation of the two labeling options stipulated in this Draft

Nutritional components that shall be labeled

Applicable situation

Notes

Option 1

Energy
Protein
Carbohydrates/Total Carbohydrates
Total sugars
Total Fat
Saturated Fat
Sodium

Applicable to products subject to mandatory nutritional labeling

Option 2

Energy
Protein
Carbohydrates
Fat
Sodium

Applicable to products that are not subject to mandatory nutritional labeling but choose to bear the labeling voluntarily

Products shall be labeled with the 5 nutritional components after the implementation of this regulation.
In addition to the above 5 nutritional components, food products shall also be labeled with total sugars and saturated fat within 5 years from the effective date of this regulation.
Special requirements for beverages and fried foods are regulated.

Chapter 3 outlines the implementation details of the circular. It sets a compliance deadline of March 31, 2025, for foods circulated in Vietnam. Additionally, foods produced before March 31, 2025, can still be circulated until their expiration date. The previous requirements related to handmade food is deleted from this version.

Appendixes are revised as well. For example, the reference value of protein is changed from 70g to 50g in the 2nd draft.

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