The Vietnam's food control system: Achievements and remaining issues

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, food safety has become a societal issue that has received considerable attention in Vietnam. Cases of food intoxication are copiously reported in the press, while scientific reports show that the risk is imminent and is particularly underestimated due to lack of statistics and appropriate knowledge regarding the food chain. This crisis forced the Vietnam government to adopt structural solutions and construct its national food control system. In 2010, the Parliament approved the Food Safety Law, thanks to which the country started applying modern principles of administration. It implemented regular food safety controls, allocated and relayed the responsibility to decentralized public agencies, and required food information. This article discusses Vietnam's food control system after the promulgation of the Food Safety Law. We show that in addition to the inherent problems such as credibility of risk analysis, the main challenges arise from the daily implementation of control activities. Rule enforcement is weak because of the informal economy in agriculture and food supply sectors. Improvements in rule enforcement are urgently required in this fast changing economy in the middle run.