Food safety picture is still in dark colors
Although the law on food safety is increasingly complete, violations still occur in most stages, from production, processing to transportation, and business. Many large-scale fake food rings have been dismantled, while collective poisoning cases are still continuously occurring in schools, businesses and food establishments.
According to the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health), in the Food Safety Action Month alone (May 2026), many collective poisoning cases still occur, mainly in school kitchens, collective kitchens and street food.
The report of the Ministry of Health shows that in the first 6 months of 2026, functional sectors inspected 118,009 establishments, detecting 5,695 violating establishments (4.83%), of which 3,772 establishments were handled, 3,571 establishments were fined with a total amount of over 20.2 billion VND.
According to the Food Safety Department, most of the incidents occurred in collective kitchens, schools and street food. Tracing the origin at small-scale establishments and online businesses is still difficult, while processing and trading conditions are not guaranteed.
At the end of July 2026, 84 people in Lam Dong were hospitalized suspected of poisoning after eating bread. At the same time, Hanoi discovered two illegal pig slaughtering facilities, forcing them to destroy and handle the violating meat.
According to Colonel Tran Viet Phuong - Deputy Director of the Environmental Crime Prevention and Control Police Department (Ministry of Public Security), food safety violations are increasingly organized, with sophisticated tricks, especially in the e-commerce environment. Subjects take advantage of social networks, KOL, livestream and e-commerce platforms to advertise falsely, consume violating goods, causing difficulties for tracking down. Therefore, it is necessary to soon identify the risk, warn, dismantle the ring and prevent recidivism.
Managing many focal points, responsibilities are easily divided
According to regulations, the Ministry of Health manages functional foods, food additives, bottled drinking water; the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment manages foods of agricultural, forestry and fishery origin; the Ministry of Industry and Trade manages alcohol, beer, soft drinks, processed milk, vegetable oil and many other food groups.
One product is managed by many management agencies at different stages, making the determination of responsibility and coordination in handling violations still complicated and prolonged. Overlapping inspections still occur, while many small-scale establishments are not regularly monitored.
At the grassroots level, food safety management personnel are still thin, and the ability to test and trace origins is limited, especially for food sold online or through many intermediaries. Meanwhile, many small-scale production and processing facilities do not meet the requirements for hygiene, preservation and product origin.
In the field of e-commerce, food of unknown origin, overly advertised uses are still sold rampant on social networks and e-commerce platforms.
Colonel Tran Viet Phuong said that the sanctions for some cases are not sufficiently deterrent, while the profit from fake food is large, and the risk of detection is low. For profit, some establishments use cheap raw materials, banned chemicals or cut down on hygiene procedures. The psychology of consumers favoring cheap goods and paying little attention to the origin also causes poor quality goods to exist.
Proposal to end the "rice tray managed by three ministries" mechanism
The Ministry of Health is finalizing the draft Law on Food Safety (amended) with many major changes, including shifting from management in stages to management of the entire supply chain, while strengthening post-inspection and digital transformation.
Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said that the Ministry has received opinions from ministries, branches and members of the Government to complete the draft before submitting it to competent authorities.The draft includes 8 chapters, 71 articles.
Four key policy groups proposed include: Risk chain management from production to consumption; strong shift from pre-inspection to post-inspection, reduction of administrative procedures and increased decentralization; building a national database on food safety connecting ministries, branches and localities; strengthening the management of street food and collective meals.
According to Dr. DS Chu Quoc Thinh - Director of the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health), the amended contents all aim for a more modern, transparent and effective management model.
