Vietnam Proposes Food Safety Law Overhaul

On July 19, 2025, Vietnam’s Ministry of Health (MOH) released a comprehensive draft amendment to the 2010 Law on Food Safety for public consultation. The proposed changes signal a major shift from the current system to a more centralized and risk-based management framework, introducing new requirements for product registration, enterprise responsibility, e-commerce, advertising, etc.

The overhaul aims to address long-standing issues of inconsistent regulations and gaps in post-market surveillance. Any feedback shall be sent to this page before August 8, 2025.

Key Revisions Compared with the Food Safety Law 2010

1. An Optimized Product Declaration/Registration System

The draft law replaces the current systems of "product declaration registration" and "self-declaration" with a two-tiered, risk-based approach.

1. Circulation Registration: A pre-market approval required for high-risk foods.

2. Self-Declaration: A simplified process for low-risk foods.

A key change is that supplemented food is now classified as high-risk and requires Circulation Registration.

Table 1 Product scope under the two product management approaches

• Validity, revocation of self-declaration and circulation registration certificate [New]

Both self-declaration and circulation registration will have a 5-year validity period, ending the current perpetual declarations.

For imported products, those delivered at the port of departure in the exporting country before the expiration date of their current circulation registration or self-declared certificate are permitted to continue circulation until their individual expiry dates.

However, food, food ingredients, food additives, and food processing aids will face revocation if their circulation registration or self-declaration is revoked. Article 16 of the draft law details 11 specific situations that would lead to such revocation.

Furthermore, enterprises will be required to re-register for circulation or re-declare their products under the following circumstances:

1. For products with a circulation registration certificate: If there are changes to the ingredients, formula, content, concentration or volume of active ingredients, dosage form, uses, target subjects, dosage, or production facility.

2. For self-declared food, food ingredients, food additives, and processing aids: If there are changes to the production facility, product name, or ingredients. This also applies to utensils and packaging materials that come into direct contact with food if their production facility changes.

2. Enhanced Quality Control and Enterprise Responsibility

The draft places a greater emphasis on product quality, not just safety, and increases the obligations of businesses.

• Mandatory Facility Certification: Facilities producing high-risk products (those requiring Circulation Registration) must be certified under one of the following standards: GMP, HACCP, ISO 22000, BRCGS, IFS, FSSC 22000, or an equivalent standard. This is a major new mandatory requirement.

• Increased Holder Liability: The organization or individual named on the Circulation Registration Certificate or Self-Declaration is now fully responsible for the product's safety and quality throughout its lifecycle. They must notify Vietnamese authorities within 15 days if the product is recalled in any other country.

• Strengthened Import Checks: Imported food and food ingredients must be issued with a “Notice of results confirming that food meets import requirements” for each shipment by the designated inspection agency according to the regulations of the Minister of the sector management ministry.

3. Regulating the Digital Marketplace and Promotion

Recognizing the rise of online sales, the draft introduces specific rules for the digital space:

• E-commerce: New regulations will govern food sales on e-commerce platforms, defining the rights and responsibilities of businesses and strengthening traceability requirements. For example, businesses shall fully post information on the Certificate of food safety qualified facility (if any), the person registering for circulation or self-declaring the product in accordance with Government regulations.

• Advertising:

• The use of images, equipment, costumes, names, titles of medical units, facilities, medical staff, opinions of patients, words, writings of doctors, pharmacists, medical staff to advertise food will be prohibited.

• Influencers advertising health supplements and other specific foods must publicly disclose their sponsored relationship.

• The government will specify which food types require pre-approval for advertising based on risk assessment and will set procedures for revoking advertising content certificates.

• Labeling & Traceability: The government will regulate the use of barcodes, QR codes, or other digital codes on labels to facilitate management and traceability.

4. Stricter Prohibitions and Harsher Penalties

The draft expands the list of prohibited acts and increases penalties to deter non-compliance.

New Prohibitions Include:

• Using animals with veterinary drug residues exceeding the permitted limit; plants containing pesticide residues, heavy metals exceeding the permitted limit for use in food business.

• Trading food that does not comply with the relevant technical standards, regulations issued by competent state management agencies, or standards announced and applied by organizations and individuals producing it.

• Trading food that has deteriorated; fake food, food that does not meet safety and quality standards;

• Providing false or forged information or arbitrarily correcting records, documents, and legal papers of domestic and foreign authorities; using fake seals or forging signatures or stamps of business establishments during the implementation of administrative procedures.

Harsher Penalties:

• The maximum fine will be raised to VND 200 million for individuals and VND 400 million for organizations. [new proposal]

• In cases where this maximum is still lower than seven times the value of the illegal food products, the fine can be increased to up to seven times the product value. [remains the same as the current requirement]

5. Other Changes

• The draft further defines and amends concepts related to food, food additive, processing aid, contaminant, food inspection, etc. Moreover, it introduces the concepts of food quality, food ingredients, health supplement, food for special dietary uses, supplemented food, micronutrient fortified foods, nutritional products for children up to 36 months of age, unsafe and substandard food, fake food, etc.

• The Minister of Health is required to detail the labeling information, such as nutritional warnings, etc.

• The content of several chapters is reorganized but the key requirements remain similar compared with current regulations.

• The draft updates the name of the "Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development" to the "Ministry of Agriculture and Environment" due to the institute reform in Vietnam.

• …

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Recommended reading:

• Vietnam Proposes Significant Changes to Decree 15/2018 on the Implementation of the Food Safety Law