August 19, 2003 - Hanoi, a meeting introducing the first food safety law in Vietnam was held in the country’s president’s office. The purpose of the law is to protect and develop people’s health, provide safe and quality food,
control the production, import, and export of food.

The new law requires that food producers and providers take full responsibility for their products. It also entitles to customers the right to inquire information on the cleanliness and other safety issues of food, choose and
consume proper products.

The use of fertilizers, cattle and poultry food, pesticides, preservatives, growth hormones, etc. must be done according to governmental regulations. As for the import and export of food products, the importer or exporter is fully responsible for the safety and quality of the goods.

This law will be effective on November 1, 2003.
http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Phap-luat/2003/08/3B9CABC6/

Pham’s Commentary:
Finally! The government has seen the necessity of enacting a law regulating the production, importing, and exporting of food. For years, Vietnamese citizens have consumed food of uncertain ingredients and sources. For
example, in 1999 and 2000, restaurants were recorded to have put a cancer-causing chemical “pho,” into a typical kind of Vietnamese noodles, simply because it made the noodles more desirably crunchy. Customers were not informed
about it. This type of problem stems from a nation-wide lack of knowledge of food safety. Furthermore, many food processors and producers simply ignore the devastating health consequences of their unsafe and improper production
processes. To worsen the matter, the government, though having numerous bureaucratic agencies, has lacked an efficient legal framework to protect customers from unsafe foods.

The law mentioned above, in my opinion, will help create a legal framework with which any food producer, importer, and exporter will have to comply. However, besides having people abide by this new safety law, there must be coordinated efforts in
many other fields as well. Schools need to educate children on nutrition and what safe food is, on how to preserve food, and on the beneficial results of following healthy food guidelines. Business schools need to engrave in entrepreneurs’ minds the
benefits of providing healthy, quality goods to customers, not cheating them of their money. There also need to be nation-wide campaigns to inform the public of the benefits of practicing clean eating behaviors and consuming safe food.

Last but not least, as a Vietnamese old saying goes, “One can only start philosophizing with a full stomach,” there needs to be sufficient food for everyone. Despite the fact that Vietnam now is one of the largest exporters of rice in
the world, there are still people starving in the country. Supplying sufficient quantities of safe food to the population is an important factor of national security.