Vietnam: What are the conditions for ensuring food safety in the production of health food?
What are the conditions for being granted a Certificate of Food Safety Eligibility in Vietnam?
According to Article 11 of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP, food production and trading establishments must have certificates of food safety conditions when operating, except for the case specified in Clause 1 Article 12 of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP.
Conditions for issuance of certificates of food safety eligibility shall comply with the provisions of Clause 1, Article 34 of the 2010 Vietnam Law on Food Safety, specifically:
- Having adequate conditions for assuring food safety suitable to each type of food production and trading as prescribed in Chapter IV of 2010 Vietnam Law on Food Safety;
b/ Having registered for food production and trading as indicated in its business registration certificate.
Particularly for health food production establishments, they must comply with the requirements specified in Article 28 of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP.
Vietnam: What are the conditions for ensuring food safety in the production of health food?
Which establishments are not eligible for the Certificate of Food Safety Eligibility in Vietnam?
Article 12 of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP stipulates that the following establishments are not eligible for the issuance of certificates of food safety conditions:
- Micro food manufacturers;
- Mobile food manufacturers and sellers;
- Micro food processors;
- Micro food sellers;
- Sellers of prepackaged foods;
- Manufacturers and sellers of instruments and materials for wrapping and storing food;
- Restaurants within hotels;
- Industrial kitchens not registered as a food business;
- Street food vendors;
- Any food business that has one of the following certificates: GMP, HACCP, ISO 22000, IFS, BRC, FSSC 22000 or an equivalent certificate.
The above-mentioned establishments must comply with the requirements of the corresponding food safety conditions.
What are the conditions for ensuring food safety in the production of health food in Vietnam?
Conditions for ensuring food safety in the production of health food are specified in Article 28 of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP, specifically:
- Manufacturers of dietary supplements shall satisfy general food safety conditions specified in Clause 1 Article 19, Clause 1 Article 20 and Clause 1 Article 21 of the Law of Food safety of Vietnam and the following regulations:
+ Establish and maintain a quality control system which control the manufacture and distribution in order to ensure that all products satisfy the applied standards and are safe until their expiration;
+ Hire employees whose qualifications are suitable for their positions and are trained in GMP, food safety and relevant knowledge. The head of the production department and quality control department must be full-time employees and work independently from one another. The chief supervisor of the facility must have at least a bachelor’s degree in medicine, pharmacy, nutrition, food safety or food processing technology and 3 years' working experience in a relevant field;
+ The factory, equipment and auxiliary utilities are installed suitable for their purposes, following one-way rules, easy to clean, not confusing, able to prevent dust, pollution and other elements detrimental to product quality. They must be cleaned on a daily basis;
+ Retain documents about the manufacture process, quality control and distribution in a manner that the history of every batch can be accessed, and documents about other activities at the facility;
+ All tasks must be performed in accordance with procedures and instructions. Carry out inspections and supervision during the manufacture process to avoid confusion, pollution and cross-contamination. Record the result immediately after a process is done;
+ Establish a quality control department to ensure that the products are manufactured under conformable conditions and processes; necessary tests are run; use of raw materials and sale of products are not approved before the quality is satisfactory; product stability must be monitored;
+ In case of testing or production under a contract, the contractor shall have adequate equipment and personnel to satisfy requirements of the hirer, satisfy requirements for testing or production of dietary supplement established by a competent authority.
+ There are procedures for complaint settlement, product recall, self-inspection; documents about these tasks must be retained in full.
- The Ministry of Health of Vietnam shall provide instructions on application of GMP requirements to dietary supplements.
- From July 01, 2019, manufacturers of dietary supplements shall satisfy GMP requirements in accordance with instructions from the Ministry of Health of Vietnam.
LawNet
