As Lao Dong newspaper has reported, in January 30, 2026 alone, at land and water border gates across the country, serious congestion is occurring with more than 1,300 vehicles including trucks and boats carrying fresh agricultural products and food that have not had food safety inspection results to be cleared.
The inability to clear customs on the same day puts goods at risk of damage, causing great damage to businesses, and also generating many costs such as warehousing, yard storage, vehicle costs, and fines for late delivery. In addition, prolonged vehicle congestion also poses a risk of unsafety and security in border areas, especially in the context of the Lunar New Year peak approaching.
The reason for this stems from the lack of guiding documents for implementing Decree 46 on food safety. The Decree sets out many stricter management requirements, especially for imported food, health protection food and state inspection activities on food safety.
The Decree takes effect from January 26, but the lack of guiding documents has caused the import of food and input materials for food production to fall into a state of congestion nationwide.
Faced with difficulties arising in the process of implementing Decree No. 46/2026/ND-CP on food safety, the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health) said that it has requested relevant units to proactively report to the leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment for timely guidance, avoiding affecting the import and export activities of enterprises.
Dr. Chu Quoc Thinh, Acting Director of the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health) said that on January 30, 2026, the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health) received a document from the Department of Crop Production and Protection (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) reflecting obstacles in the process of implementing state inspection of food safety for products in the field of crop cultivation, according to the provisions of Decree No. 46/2026/ND-CP of the Government.
In the afternoon of the same day, the Department's leaders held a meeting with representatives of the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development and the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection to exchange and clarify the inadequacies when implementing the Decree.
At the meeting, the parties agreed to recognize: The current difficulties mainly arise in the process of organizing and implementing Decree No. 46/2026/ND-CP, not stemming from the contents of the Decree.
The assignment and coordination in state inspection of food safety for crop products is still not truly synchronized, leading to confusion in practical application, especially in agricultural import and export activities.
On that basis, the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health) requested the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection and the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) to proactively report to the leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to have timely guidance for relevant organizations and individuals, ensuring the implementation of the Decree within their authority and smoothly.
Early and unified guidance is necessary to avoid causing congestion and affecting the import and export activities of enterprises," the Food Safety Department stated clearly.
In addition, the Food Safety Department also said that after fully summarizing the problems and proposing solutions, if necessary, units under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment can advise the Ministry's leaders to send a document requesting the Ministry of Health - in its role as the Standing Committee of the Inter-sectoral Steering Committee on Food Safety - to organize a meeting with relevant ministries and sectors.
It is expected that the inter-sectoral meeting will have the participation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice and the Government Office to unify the understanding, ways of doing things and issue general guiding documents, ensuring that Decree No. 46/2026/ND-CP is implemented effectively and in the spirit of administrative procedure reform.
