The Ministry of Health is actively gathering public and institutional feedback on a landmark draft proposal titled “Perfecting the State Management Apparatus for Food Safety.” The strategic objective of the initiative is to eliminate systemic overlap, operational redundancies, and jurisdictional friction among multiple ministries by consolidating all food safety oversight into a single, unified chain of command extending from the central government down to local administrative levels. The restructuring integrates global regulatory benchmarks and builds upon successful local pilot models executed across Vietnam.
The documented structural realignments across the designated administrative tiers feature:
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Apparatus Realignment at the Central Government Level:
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Termination of Multi-Ministerial Mandates: The draft framework outlines the cessation of independent food safety state management roles historically held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)—excluding its foundational oversight of production and business conditions within early-stage supply chains, such as cultivation, husbandry, fishing, harvesting, slaughtering, and quarantine; and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT)—excluding its mandate to combat smuggling, commercial fraud, and counterfeit goods across the food and food-additive marketplace.
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Consolidation Under the Ministry of Health: All specialized personnel, functional duties, and underlying physical infrastructure (if applicable) currently embedded within MARD and MOIT will be systematically transferred to the Central Food Safety Administration, operating directly under the Ministry of Health. At present, state oversight remains fragmented across three distinct entities: the Ministry of Health, MARD, and MOIT.
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Establishment of Specialized Authorities at the Provincial Level:
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Dissolution of Legacy Units: The provincial-level overhaul will terminate the operations of 10 food safety sub-departments under regional health departments, 15 food safety and hygiene sub-departments under regional health departments, 8 specialized food safety divisions within regional health departments, and the pilot Food Safety Department currently operating in Ho Chi Minh City.
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Creation of the Department of Food Safety: Capitalizing on the consolidated functions and duties of the dissolved entities, provinces will formally establish a dedicated Department of Food Safety. This new provincial organ will absorb supplementary food safety management workflows, personnel rosters, and physical assets transferred out of the regional departments of industry and trade, as well as agriculture and rural development.
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Activation of Enforcement Squads at the Commune Level:
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At the grassroots administrative tier, the draft proposal mandates the creation of localized Food Safety Squads. These squads will function as public service organizations operating under the direct governance of the respective Commune-level People’s Committee.
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The specialized squads will be contractually empowered to execute field monitoring, run compliance inspections, and officially document administrative violations. Completed enforcement dossiers will be transferred directly to the Chairman of the Commune-level People’s Committee for formal legal adjudication and sanctioning.
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Source: https://thanhnien.vn/se-thong-nhat-dau-moi-quan-ly-an-toan-thuc-pham-185260611180114963.htm