The Food Safety Department said that it has sent a document to the Departments of Health of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety on the implementation of post-inspection of food safety in 2026.
Accordingly, the Food Safety Department proposed that localities advise provincial-level People's Committees to issue plans and direct the strengthening of post-inspection in the area, especially in places where specific plans have not been developed. The goal is to control risks, reduce the number of food poisoning cases, the number of people affected and died from food poisoning, especially during peak periods.
Notably, post-inspection activities this year will focus on product groups subject to self-declaration, registration of declaration, imported goods that are exempt from inspection or reduced inspection. These include products such as vitamin supplements, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, probiotics, prebiotics; medical nutritional foods; foods for special diets and nutritional products for children up to 36 months old.
Functional agencies request to strengthen the inspection of self-declared product dossiers at receiving agencies, and at the same time strictly handle violations such as not self-declaring products, using test certificates not in accordance with regulations, or self-declaring products that are required to register for declaration forms.
In addition, localities need to tighten the inspection of food safety assurance conditions at food production and processing establishments, especially places with a high risk of poisoning such as collective kitchens and school kitchens. Health protection food production establishments that meet GMP standards, establishments eligible for exemption from issuing certificates of eligibility for food safety are also subject to enhanced post-inspection, sampling and strict handling if violations are detected.
For the group of health protection foods, the Food Safety Department requests to focus on post-inspection of businesses that have registered product declarations in the area. Sample taking for testing will prioritize products at risk of containing banned substances, especially products advertised to support blood pressure, blood sugar, bones and joints, blood fat, male physiology and reduce the risk of obesity.
One content emphasized is to strongly handle violations in health protection food advertising, especially on the online environment, social networks and online video platforms. The Food Safety Department requests localities to coordinate with the culture, industry and trade, and police sectors to inspect, handle and publicize violating establishments and products in the mass media according to regulations.
In addition, functional units are also required to strengthen inter-sectoral coordination in controlling fake food, combating smuggling, trade fraud and intellectual property infringement for functional food groups, supplements, medical nutritional foods and foods used for special diets.
