Dirty food "openly" present in the market
According to data from the Ministry of Health, in the first quarter of 2026 alone, the whole country recorded 36 food poisoning cases, an increase of 20 cases compared to the same period in 2025. Notably, there were 9 cases with 30 or more people affected, accounting for 25% of the total number of cases. This is a high and alarming rate, showing that food poisoning cases are serious, with the risk of causing long-term consequences for community health.
The most typical case is that functional forces dismantled a line supplying "dirty" food to schools. Hanoi police discovered a line slaughtering and consuming 3,600 pigs infected with African cholera, equivalent to 300 tons, after inspecting Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien's slaughterhouse at Van Phuc centralized livestock slaughterhouse and Cuong Phat Company. A large amount of dirty meat was sold to people and to Cuong Phat Food Co., Ltd. This company continued to sell to a number of other businesses to supply to kindergartens, primary schools and collective kitchens in Hanoi and neighboring provinces.
In mid-April 2026, after eating bread at two points of sale in Dien Chau commune, Nghe An, 59 people had to be hospitalized suspected of food poisoning. The patients all ate bread at two points of sale of Quynh shop in Dien Chau commune. The bread was produced at a main facility, then distributed to the two locations above for sale.
Recently, southern provinces have continuously recorded hundreds of people hospitalized after eating bread. On March 3rd and 4th, 79 patients in Vung Tau ward were poisoned by eating banh mi on the sidewalk of Do Chieu street. A few days earlier, 22 people in Ho Chi Minh City and more than 70 people at Hong Ngoc 12 facility (Dong Thap) also experienced similar symptoms. Most of the cause was later identified as food contaminated with E. coli bacteria - bacteria that cause digestive tract poisoning.
Sweeping dirty food, no forbidden zones
Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan pointed out that most small businesses, street vendors, food stalls in public places... are still limited in equipment and tools, lack clean water, and waste collection is not hygienic. Many raw materials are cheap, of unknown origin, and pose a risk of unsafety. Processed food is not properly preserved, left for a long time, expired, increasing the risk of poisoning.
The Ministry of Health believes that if not strictly controlled, the risk of disease spread through food and long-term impacts on public health is very high. Among them, children and workers are the two groups most vulnerable due to frequent use of collective meals with high frequency.
Currently, food safety management is under the responsibility of 3 ministries according to each product group and stage, including the Ministry of Health managing functional foods, additives, bottled drinking water and collective kitchens; the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment in charge of fresh food and the stages of cultivation, animal husbandry, slaughtering, quarantine; the Ministry of Industry and Trade managing industrial processing, circulation and distribution in the market.
In specific cases such as food infected with diseases entering school kitchens, responsibility is determined throughout the chain, from animal husbandry, quarantine, slaughtering, supply to the reception stage at schools. In addition, regulations are also being completed in the direction of increasing post-inspection, enhancing corporate responsibility and the implementation role of local authorities.
Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said that the Ministry of Health is urgently completing the Project on arranging the State management apparatus for food safety in the direction of unifying a single focal point from the Central to local levels, in order to improve operational efficiency and meet increasingly complex practical requirements.
The project is implemented based on the direction of the Central Steering Committee on perfecting institutions and laws and the Prime Minister's conclusion, in which the Ministry of Health is assigned to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs and relevant agencies to urgently complete the Project to report to the Government in May 2026" - Deputy Minister Do Xuan Tuyen emphasized.
