Contributing opinions to the draft Law on Food Safety (amended), the Ministry of Public Security said that in practice, after 12 years of implementation, the crime situation in the field of food safety has become complicated, and many cases have caused serious consequences, long-term affecting public health.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, the subjects have taken advantage of loopholes in the post-inspection mechanism, overlap in management between ministries and sectors, and the lack of synchronization of regulations on e-commerce to commit crimes.
Therefore, the amendment of the Law needs to set a goal not only to create favorable conditions for businesses but also to improve legal loopholes being exploited by criminals, especially in the self-declaration of products and management of input materials.
The current Food Safety Law mainly focuses on ensuring food safety in the direction of quality control and production conditions for each product and each individual establishment.
The law does not have a full scope of regulation on food safety in the entire supply chain, does not ensure continuous stability, no sabotage, manipulation or intentional attack on the national food system.
At the same time, there are no commensurate regulations on protecting food safety databases. Therefore, food safety data should be considered a strategic asset. For businesses, through food safety data analysis, it is also a tool to analyze and evaluate market demand and thereby orient investment correctly.
The current international legislative trend is very clear and consistently shifting from food safety management thinking to food security and food supply chain security thinking.
Many countries do not simply consider food as a management object for technical health but have identified it as essential infrastructure that is likely to be attacked, sabotaged, manipulated and needs to be protected by special legal and security tools.
From the above issues, the Ministry of Public Security proposed a number of contents for the draft Law on Food Safety (amended) such as:
Supplement criteria to determine dangerous level of food safety violations to serve as a basis for criminal handling. For example, the act of intentionally using banned substances or toxic substances must be handled even when no consequences have been caused.
Supplementing regulations requiring all links in the supply chain to have a digital data storage system and be able to connect to the national data center.
Clearly stipulate the enforcement authority's power to inspect, blockade warehouses, and recall products within 24 hours when a danger is detected, and has the right to inspect without prior notice.
At the same time, there are strict regulations on power control mechanisms to avoid abuse of power and reduce policy shocks to businesses.
The Ministry of Public Security also proposed assigning the Ministry of Health as the focal agency for food safety, considering a roadmap to establish an independent agency responsible for food safety management.
Supplementing regimes and mechanisms for rewarding people who detect violations; administrative penalties based on revenue and additional penalties.
Regulations require businesses to develop plans to prevent and combat intentional contamination and control risks; and be strictly and directly responsible for products put on the market.
