“Decoding” a food safety management clue

Ensuring food safety for more than 100 million people is not only a matter of disease prevention but also determines the health of future generations and the quality of the race. Therefore, a unified food safety management model that ensures effective implementation from central to local levels is urgently needed.

One field, many management models

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh, former lecturer at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, an expert in the field of food safety technology, in Vietnam, the responsibility for food safety management is assigned to the Ministry of Health , Industry and Trade, and Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, throughout the production, preliminary processing, processing, preservation, transportation, and consumption market. At the local level, provinces and cities are currently applying different food safety management models.

A meat shop at Binh Dien wholesale market (HCMC). Photo: Hoang Hung

Of which, Ho Chi Minh City is the first and only locality to have a Department of Food Safety (operating from January 1, 2024, previously the Food Safety Management Board), Da Nang City implements the Food Safety Management Board model, and other localities organize the Food Safety and Hygiene Sub-Department. “Before having the Department of Food Safety, Ho Chi Minh City piloted the Food Safety Management Board model. After a long pilot period, we have not had an accurate and scientific assessment of the actual effectiveness, have not yet determined the suitability of this model, the feasibility when applied to other localities, or how to adjust and draw specific lessons? These questions have not been answered, so which model is suitable for local food safety management is not easy to answer,” Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh commented.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen, localities are applying different food safety management models, leading to a lack of unity and difficulty in coordination, causing overlapping tasks. Deputy Minister Do Xuan Tuyen said that the Ministry of Health is finalizing two draft decrees to submit to the Government to specify the decentralization of management authority according to administrative levels and provide clear guidance on the organization of the management apparatus model of provincial-level professional agencies.

According to Dr. Nguyen Hoai Nam, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, regarding the implementation of policies and laws on the prevention and control of counterfeit drugs and fake foods, the current coordination mechanism between units such as the Department of Health, Department of Food Safety, Market Management, Police, Customs, Border Guard... is sometimes not tight, lacking a unified coordination point, leading to fragmentation in handling, or overlapping and duplication of functions. In addition, information sharing between agencies is sometimes slow and lacks updates, affecting management efficiency.

“Unifying the food safety management model is a difficult issue. Currently, the Ministry of Health is seeking opinions from ministries, branches and localities on this issue. The Ministry of Health is currently in charge of drafting the Food Safety Law (amended). Accordingly, the organization of state management of food safety in the draft law is built in the direction that the Ministry of Health is the focal point responsible for helping the Government unify state management of food safety nationwide,” Deputy Minister Do Xuan Tuyen emphasized at a recent meeting of the Central Inter-Sectoral Steering Committee on Food Safety.

Do not leave "legal gaps"

According to Lawyer Tran Minh Hung, Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, the issue of unifying the focal point for food safety management is an urgent requirement. “Reality shows that there is a situation of overlap, making it difficult to assign responsibility when violations occur due to the dispersion of authority between sectors and localities. For example, a product involves many stages from production to processing and circulation, so determining which agency has the authority to handle it becomes complicated. This not only reduces management efficiency but also creates a “legal gap” that prevents some violations from being handled promptly,” Lawyer Tran Minh Hung explained.

According to experts, international experience shows that many countries such as Singapore and South Korea have established a unified food safety management agency under the Government, both reducing administrative procedures and increasing accountability. At the same time, the law specifically stipulates a mechanism for coordinating surprise inspections and handling violations in the direction of increasing administrative and criminal sanctions for acts that seriously harm public health.

By the end of September 2025, the Food Safety and Hygiene Sub-Departments of some localities had ceased operations to transfer their functions and tasks to the Food Safety Department under the Department of Health. Sharing with SGGP Newspaper, the head of the Food Safety Department of a southern province said that the transfer was not carried out synchronously between provinces and cities, while the authority of the sub-departments and the departments were completely different.

This difference makes it difficult for people in the industry to carry out food safety management tasks at the local level. “For food safety management to be effective and smooth, I hope to have a unified model in 34 provinces and cities. This synchronization and unity will help localities have a common voice when they need to make recommendations and proposals to the Food Safety Department and from there advise the Ministry of Health to issue relevant legal documents,” this person shared.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh, the regulations on food safety standards developed by the Ministry of Health and the system of legal documents on food safety have been relatively complete. In recent times, legal regulations on food safety have been completed in the direction of creating favorable conditions for businesses but also increasing the responsibility of businesses on the principle of simplifying administrative procedures, strongly decentralizing and delegating powers and increasing responsibility for localities.

In particular, Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP dated February 2, 2018 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Food Safety Law has fundamentally changed the method of food safety management, risk-based management, minimizing pre-inspection, increasing post-inspection... "The main problem lies in implementation, post-inspection of food safety needs to be carried out in a practical and effective manner. At the same time, it is necessary to invest in resources and human resources in post-inspection at the local level, and strengthen the capacity of the testing system from central to local levels to create overall strength", Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh proposed.

MINH KHUÊ

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/giai-ma-mot-dau-moi-quan-ly-an-toan-thuc-pham-post815481.html