As a populous city with a large number of production, business and food service establishments, food safety assurance in Ho Chi Minh City is always raised regularly and continuously.
After the 2026 Lunar New Year holiday, when food shopping and business activities return to normal, this work continues to be promoted. Ho Chi Minh City is currently maintaining a peak period of food safety inspection to control the risk of violations and proactively prevent poisoning.
According to Mr. Le Minh Hai - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety, the sector has implemented a plan to ensure food safety before, during and after the 2026 Lunar New Year. Key contents include propaganda and guidance for people and businesses to comply with regulations. At the same time, inspect and evaluate the compliance of production and business establishments.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety has established 31 city-level inspection teams. In 168 wards, communes, and special zones, each locality has also established an inter-sectoral team. The teams focus on inspecting establishments with large food consumption during Tet instead of spreading out.
In addition to food production and business establishments, functional forces also strengthen inspections at events with crowded eating and drinking venues to proactively prevent the risk of food poisoning.
To date, the teams have inspected more than 2,000 establishments. Currently, the peak period is in the post-Tet period and is expected to last until almost the end of March 2026. Through inspection, the city has not recorded any serious incidents related to food safety during this period.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety said that it will publish reports in stages on the website for people and organizations to monitor and supervise.
Previously, Ho Chi Minh City functional forces continuously discovered many violations of food safety, causing public outrage. Typical examples include the case of 3,000 tons of snails soaked in industrial chemicals, 800 tons of fresh noodles soaked in borax, 744 kg of frozen meat of unknown origin. An Phuoc Thang SG Trading Co., Ltd. (Sago Food) - a school meal supplier was also found to have violated regulations in the process of supplying food to schools.
