DECISION

ON APPROVAL OF THE NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR FOOD SAFETY IN THE PERIOD OF 2011 - 2020 AND A VISION TOWARD 2030

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Governmental Organization dated December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to the Law on Food Safety dated June 17, 2010;

Pursuant to the Resolution No.34/2009/QH12 dated June 19, 2009 of the Session XII National Assembly on promoting the implementation of policies and legislation on quality management, hygiene and food safety;

At the proposal of the Minister of Health,

DECIDES:

Article 1. To approve the National Strategy for Food Safety in the period of 2011 - 2020 and a Vision toward 2030 with the following main contents:

1. Directive viewpoints

a) Ensuring food safety means to ensure the interests of consumers and people's health, as a regular task required to focus on the direction of the Party committees, government, and the responsibilities and rights of the organizations and individuals producing and trading food and of every citizen.

b) Implementing synchronously the provisions of the law on food safety, focusing on the inspection, examination, promoting the application of advanced measures in the management of food safety.

c) Strengthening the information and communication to create a profound shift in the mindset of the producers, consumers and society on keeping sanitation, ensuring food safety.

2. The objective of Strategy

a) The general objective.

- By 2015: The master plans on food safety from production to consumption are deployed on the basis of management system of enough strength, effect, significant and overall impact to the improvement of the food safety situation in our country.

- By 2020: Basically, the control of food safety throughout the food supply chain is set up and promoted efficiently, actively in the protection of health and interests of consumers, to meet requirements on development and integration of international economy of the country.

b) The specific objectives.

- Objective 1: Improve knowledge and practice on food safety for the object groups.

Targets:

+ By 2015: 70% of producers, processers and traders of food, 80% of managers (including leaders of concerned ministries and branches; leaders of People's Committees at all levels; leaders of specialized departments: Health, Agriculture and Rural Development, Industry and Trade; leaders of enterprises of producing, processing and trading food), 70% of consumers have the knowledge and proper practice on food safety.

+ By 2020: 95% of producers, processers and traders of food, 100% of managers, 80% of consumers have the knowledge and proper practice on food safety.

- Objective 2: Strengthening capacity of the management system of food safety.

Targets:

+ By 2015: 100% of provinces and cities under central Government is perfected the management system of food safety; all cities under the Central Government, six northern border provinces, the provinces with population of 2 million people or more shall have testing laboratories obtained ISO 17025 standard; established rapid alert system for food safety and organized, analyzed a number of high risk on food safety in Vietnam.

+ By 2020: The provinces with population of 1 million people or more have testing laboratories obtained ISO 17025 standard.

- Objective 3: Significantly improve status of ensuring food safety of the facilities of producing, processing food.

Targets:

+ By 2015: 100% of the facilities of producing, processing food of industrial scale, concentrated are issued qualification certificates for hygiene and food safety, percentage of the facilities of producing, processing food of industrial scale, concentrated applying quality assurance system for hygiene and food safety, such as GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice), HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points), ISO 9001, ISO 22000 ...is reached at least 30%, to encourage the facilities of producing, storing, processing, food of small scale to apply this system.

+ 2020: 100% of the facilities of producing, processing food of industrial scale, concentrated are issued qualification certificates for hygiene and food safety; percentage of the facilities of producing, processing food of industrial scale, concentrated applying quality assurance system for hygiene and food safety, such as GMP, HACCP, ISO 9001, ISO 22000 ... is obtained at least 80%; 70% of the facilities of processing agricultural products; 100% of the facilities of processing aquatic food products of industrial scale is applied quality management according to HACCP, GMP, GHP (Good Hygiene Practices) meeting technical regulations on food safety; 80% of fishing ports and fishing vessels from 90 horsepower or more, the independent facilities of manufacturing ice to serve the processing of aquatic products; the facilities of purchasing raw materials, the facilities of processing agro-forestry-aquatic products satisfy the regulations on conditions of ensuring food safety and are applies the quality management programs such as GMP, SSOP; 100% of provinces and cities approves and implements the planning and ensures the infrastructure conditions of the areas of safe production of food (focus on the objects as vegetables, tea, meat and aquatic products for domestic consumption), 100% concentrated, key aquaculture areas of large-scale commodity serves for industrial processing; 80% of small farming areas is monitored toxic chemical residues; and 60% of the production areas of vegetables, tea is applied VietGAP (Regulations of Vietnam on Good Agriculture Practice).

- Objective 4: Significantly improve status of ensuring food safety of the facilities of producing, processing food.

Targets:

+ By 2015: 40% of the facilities of producing, trading catering services, 80% of collective kitchens is issued qualification certificates for hygiene and food safety, 100% of supermarkets is controlled food safety; 50% of markets is planned and controlled food safety (excluding the spontaneous markets).

+ By 2020: 80% of the facilities of producing, trading catering services, 100% of collective kitchens are issued qualification certificates for hygiene and food safety; 80% of markets is planned and controlled food safety (excluding the spontaneous markets).

- Objective 5: Preventing effectively the poisoning of acute food.

Targets:

+ By 2015: Reducing 25% of cases of acute food poisoning gotten from 30 persons or more recorded compared with the average of period from 2006 to 2010. The percentage of acute food poisoning recorded is below 8 persons/100.000 people.

+ By 2020: Reducing 30% of cases of acute food poisoning gotten from 30 persons or more recorded compared with the average of period from 2006 to 2010. The percentage of acute food poisoning recorded is below 7 persons/100.000 people.

c) Vision toward 2030.

By 2030, food safety work is managed proactively, effectively and based on the evidence and controlled by the chain; 100% of producers, processers and traders of food, of managers, consumers has the knowledge and proper practice on food safety; and 100% the facilities of producing, processing food meet food safety conditions.

3. The main solutions to implement the Strategy

a) Group of solutions of direction and administration.

- Strengthening the leadership of the Party and government at all levels for the assurance of food safety.

- Perfecting the system of legal documents on food safety.

- Promoting the role of the interdisciplinary Steering Committee on food safety at the central and local levels, enhancing the role of the Teams of Task to help the local Steering Committees, organizing well the interdisciplinary coordination activities in which health sector is the contact point.

b) Group of solutions of technical expertise.

- On going to implement strongly and synchronously the activities of information, education, and communication of changing behavior on food safety; building and developing communication skills; improving the quantity and quality of materials and media messages on food safety.

- Strengthening capacity of the State management system on food safety:

+ Strengthening the Branches of Vietnam Food Administration, Branches of Quality Control of Agro, Forestry and Fisheries Products in the provinces and cities under central authority on human resources, equipment and material facilities that are capable to undertake the food safety management at the localities.

+ Strengthening capacity for specialized inspectorate on food safety from the central to local levels.

+ Strengthening and consolidating the state inspection agencies on food safety; setting up information systems among the state inspection agencies to coordinate the implementation of state inspection on food safety.

+ Increasing the rate of the laboratories obtained standard of ISO 17025 and GLP (Good Laboratories Practice); focusing on investment in infrastructure and equipment for the Central Laboratories that are capable of playing the role as testing place of food safety; investing funds to upgrade some of the central and local laboratories to achieve regional and international standards.

+ Implementing decentralization together with training, retraining, improving capacity management, qualification, professional skill for the localities in the food safety management, meeting the requirements of the assigned tasks.

- Promoting the supervision and inspection, examination and handling of violations of the law on food safety:

+ Strengthening inspection and strictly controlling the production and trade of plant protection chemicals and other agricultural materials to ensure the right quality, type, dose, duration of isolation of the types of agricultural materials in farming, animal husbandry, storage and processing of agricultural products.

+ Regularly monitoring and inspecting toxic chemical residues in agricultural products, aquatic food products; tightly controlling the slaughter and veterinary sanitation, fisheries hygiene; inspecting the implementation of regulations on ensuring food safety conditions in the entire production chain.

+ Preventing the trade of fake food, food of poor quality, expired and violated provisions of goods labeling, originated from smuggling and trade fraud, violated law on food safety.

+ Strengthening the supervision and inspection of food service facilities, monitoring of hazards for food safety.

- Developing the technical regulations on food safety.

+ Developing the national technical regulations on food safety.

+ Developing technical requirements for strict control of food safety for the agro, forestry, and fishery products prior to the consumption on market.

- On going to implement and expand nationwide the models of advanced food safety management:

+ Completing and applying the processes of good manufacture practice (VietGAP, VietGAHP - Vietnam's regulations on good farming practices) and the manuals GAP, GAHP in vegetables, fruits, tea and livestock husbandry.

+ Promoting certification activity, developing the regulations on examination of certification of VietGAP, VietGAHP; evaluating, appointing, and supervising the operations of the certification organizations, certification support of VietGAP, GAHP.

+ Piloting and expanding the models of applying good manufacture practices in production of vegetables, fruits, tea and livestock husbandry, fisheries associated with certification and publication of quality standards.

+ Disseminating, guiding the enterprises of processing food, consulting, and applying advanced quality management system of food safety (GMP, GHP, HACCP, ISO 22000).

- Strengthening capacity to prevent and combat food poisoning and food borne diseases:

+ Strengthening capacity of operation of systems of monitoring, recording and preventing food poisoning and food borne diseases.

+ Closely supervising the implementation of law provisions on food safety, particularly the provisions on food safety conditions of the facilities of collective kitchen, the facilities of catering, restaurants , hotels, resorts, festivals, street food, markets, ports, schools, industrial parks and export processing zones; clearly defining the responsibilities of the units having the facilities of food services, not letting the ineligible facilities under the provisions of law produce, trade food, provide catering service; strictly handling the violations.

+ Strengthening the certification of eligible conditions for food safety in production, sales of food.

- Developing the systems of warning and risk analysis of food safety for used as the basis for the management of food safety based on evidence:

+ Forming systems of rapid alert and risk analysis for used as a scientific basis for management of food safety.

+ Handling actively, rapidly the urgent incidents on food safety and proposing the remedies.

+ Coordinating closely and effectively with other countries in the region and the world in sharing information and dealing with issues on food safety.

+ Coordinating closely with the organization of Codex, the international technical organizations on food safety

c) Group of solutions on resource.

- Strengthening training, retraining on food safety:

+ Increasing staffing for the teams that are specialized and responsible for food safety of the levels, capable of management and administration of the activities to ensure food safety on a national scale.

+ Promoting training in the universities, research institutes with code of training on food safety at levels of college and university. Organizing to retrain managers, inspectors, and testers of food safety at all levels; gradually increasing the proportion of staffs with university degrees, postgraduates.

+ Retraining, training and attracting human resources with qualified, professional skills to perform the task of managing food safety.

+ Including the contents of education on food safety into the school levels.

- Promoting scientific research: The research institutes, universities focus on research, identification, assessment, and intervention to improve status of food safety.

- Strengthening international cooperation in the field of food safety:

+ Promoting the signing of international treaties, bilateral and multilateral agreements in the field of food safety.

+ Expanding international cooperation in scientific research, training personnel, information, technique, regulations, and standards of food.

+ Promoting cooperation in the region and the world in solving the problems of food safety.

+ Cooperating closely with neighboring countries, particularly the bordering countries to deal with common urgent problems.

- Socialization of the assurance of food safety:

+ Promulgating policies, list and schedule for socializing the activities in the field of food safety management; perfecting mechanisms of management, assessment, recognition of the establishments to socialize in the field of food safety management.

+ Strengthening the socialization of some stages of technical services for the management of food safety; promoting the role of enterprises, social organizations, the unions involved in ensuring food safety.

+ Developing, encouraging the individuals and organizations to participate in investment, joint ventures, association, technology transfer on food safety testing and the certification organizations.

+ Encouraging the facilities well maintaining food safety conditions in parallel with the application of strict examination, supervision of the violating facilities.

- Strengthening funding for the assurance of food safety. Socializing, diversifying the financial resources, and gradually increasing the investment rate for the assurance of food safety.

Investment funding for the national strategy includes central budget, local budget, capital from aid and other lawful sources as prescribed by law.

4. The major programs and schemes

a) National Target Program on hygiene and food safety in the period of 2011-2015.

- The editing: Ministry of Health.

- Coordinating agencies: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Finance.

b) Scheme of training of personnel of ensuring food safety.

- The editing agency: Ministry of Health.

- Coordinating agencies: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Education and Training.

c) Scheme of controlling food safety for imported food commodities.

- The editing agency: Ministry of Industry and Trade.

- Coordinating agencies: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

d) Scheme of promoting the communication on food safety in the period to 2015.

- The editing agency: Ministry of Health.

- Coordinating agencies: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Information and Communications.

đ) Scheme of improving capacity of specialized inspectors on food safety.

- The editing agency: Ministry of Health.

- Coordinating agencies: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Government Inspectorate.

e) Scheme of ensuring food safety in slaughtering, transporting livestock, and poultry.

- The editing agency: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

- Coordinating agencies: People's Committees of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government.

g) Scheme of ensuring food safety.

- The editing agency: Ministry of Industry and Trade.

- Coordinating agencies: Ministry of Health, People's Committees of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government.

h) Scheme of improving capacity of inspection and control of market management forces for food circulated on the market.

- The editing agency: Ministry of Industry and Trade.

- Coordinating agencies: People's Committees of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government.

i) Scheme of setting up and developing the model of nation-wide safe food supplying chains.

- The editing agency: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

- Coordinating agencies: People's Committees of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government.

Article 2. Organization of implementation

1. Ministry of Health shall

a) Preside over, coordinate with the ministries and branches to direct and implement the contents of the National Strategy for Food Safety in the period of 2011 - 2020 and a Vision toward 2030 within the scope of duties and powers assigned.

b) Monitor, supervise and urge the implementation of the Strategy in the ministries, branches and localities;

c) Coordinate with the concerned ministries, branches and People's Committees at all levels to perform the inspection, examination of food safety; urge the ministries, branches and localities to implement responsibilities assigned on ensuring food safety.

d) Periodically organize to sum up partially, review, and report to the Prime Minister the results to implement the Strategy.

2. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall

a) Cooperate closely with the Health Ministry and other concerned ministries and branches in the implementation of the solutions, programs, and schemes to implement the Strategy within their tasks and powers assigned.

b) Direct the formation and development of the areas of raw materials for producing safe food agricultural products; apply the appropriate production processes for households of producing food agricultural products.

c) Strengthen the inspection and strict control on the food safety of the stages from producing, preliminary processing, processing, and trading food.

d) Cooperate closely with the Ministry of Health in the access of food’s origin when food poisoning occurs, manage risk of food contamination.

3. Ministry of Industry and Trade shall

a) Cooperate closely with the Health Ministry and other concerned ministries and branches in the implementation of the solutions, programs, and schemes to implement the Strategy within their tasks and powers assigned

b) Direct and inspect the implementation of regulations of ensuring food safety conditions at the markets, supermarkets, especially at the wholesale markets.

c) Check and control, prevent the trade of fake foods, poor quality, smuggled food.

4. Ministry of Science and Technology shall

Coordinate with other concerned ministries and agencies to review and promulgate the regulations on implementing the certification and publication of standards conformity, regulations conformity, and regulations related to quality, standards and labeling of food products; issue the policies to encourage and promote research, advanced scientific applications in the field of food safety.

5. Ministry of Education and Training shall

a) Strictly control the supply of catering services in the schools, build the model kitchens of ensuring food safety in the schools associated with movement of good teaching, good learning and other movements of educational industry.

b) Coordinate with the Ministry of Health to organize propaganda and education on food safety in the schools, to mobilize teachers and students to participate actively in the assurance of food safety; to set up the schedule to put food safety content into curricula at all educational levels.

6. Ministry of Planning and Investment shall

Allocate funding for the activities of the strategy according to the budget plan allocated annually by the National Assembly. Actively mobilize domestic and foreign financing for the investment in the assurance of food safety.

7. Ministry of Finance shall

Allocate sufficient budget for the activities to implement the Strategy, programs, projects, schemes, plans, planning of ensuring food safety. Inspect and supervise the use of funds; preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Health and other relevant agencies to develop policies to promote socialization and encourage individuals and organizations to invest in the area of food safety.

8. Ministry of Home Affairs shall

Preside over and coordinate with concerned ministries, branches and direct the localities to ensure staffing for the management system of food safety, develop, and submit to the government for approving the regime of occupational incentives for the staffs working in the field of food safety.

9. Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Defense according to the functions and duties assigned shall

a) Advise the propaganda, education to raise awareness and implementation of food safety for the ethnic people in the garrisons, remote areas, border areas and islands.

b) Direct the police forces, border guard forces to collaborate with customs forces and local agencies to prevent the smuggling of food across the border.

c) Preside over and coordinate with concerned ministries, branches to detect, investigate, handle and support handling of the legislation violations on food safety.

10. Ministry of Information and Communications shall

a) Coordinate with the Health Ministry and other concerned ministries and branches to organize the information, communication, and dissemination of legal knowledge on food safety.

b) Direct the press agencies, radio and television stations at all levels from central to commune levels, the teams of mobile communications, broadcasting system in the communes, wards to spend adequate and suitable channel time for disseminating knowledge, law regulations and the activities to ensure food safety for the people.

11. Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam News Agency shall

Coordinate with the media agencies, television stations and radio stations at all levels to put information of food safety into the regular content of broadcasts. Spend the channel time of broadcasting programs on ensuring food safety, fixed categories, and topics on ensuring food safety.

12. To request the Vietnam Fatherland Front

To implement the mobilization, education and launching of the movements to ensure food safety associated with the campaign to build the cultural villages, communes in the residential areas, to promote the formation of behavior of producing, processing, trading, and consuming agro-forestry products and fisheries safely in the community.

13. To request the Central Vietnam Women's Union

a) To preside over the nationwide launching of women movement to participate in the assurance of food safety.

b) To coordinate with functional ministries, branches to organize the training programs, information, and communication on food safety for women; especially the housewives, women doing business, producing food of small scale.

14. To request the Central Vietnam Farmers Association

a) To coordinate the organization of training activities and guide to members on safe food production, methods of scientific processing, storage, properly use plant protection chemicals and safely animal feed and fertilizers.

b) To preside over the launching of innovation movement, good practice on ensuring food safety, actively struggle with the behavior of food insecurity in the community, villages.

c) To coordinate with the boards, branches to disseminate and guide the advanced technical solutions to ensure food safety in production, processing, trade, and preservation of food.

15. People's Committees of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall

a) Direct, build the plan, and organize the implementation of the national strategy content on food safety in the period of 2011 - 2020 and a Vision toward 2030.

b) Put the criteria on food safety in the plan of social - economic development of the localities. Actively invest in the budget, manpower, material facilities for the program to ensure food safety in the localities.

c) To direct, implement and closely supervise the implementation of law regulations on food safety, particularly the provisions on food safety conditions of the collective kitchen facilities, facilities supplying ready-to-eat food, restaurants, hotels, resorts, festivals, street food, markets, ports, schools, industrial parks and export processing zones; specify the responsibilities of the units having facilities of catering, not letting the ineligible facilities under the provisions of law produce, trade food, supply catering service; strictly handle the violations.

16. Mechanism for implementation, coordination.

- Central Interdisciplinary Steering Committee on hygiene and food safety, the Interdisciplinary Steering Committee of localities are responsible for directing the deployment of National Strategy for Food Safety in the period of 2011 - 2020 and a Vision toward 2030.

- On the basis of common goals and solutions, the ministries, branches, localities and mass organizations based on their functions, duties to build the schemes, plans and implement: annually reports of progress and performance, send to the Ministry of Health for synthesizing and reporting to the Prime Minister.

Article 3. This decision takes effect from the date of signing.

Article 4. The ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of governmental agencies, heads of related agencies and organizations, presidents of People’s Committees of provinces or centrally-run cities are responsible for the implementation of this Decision./.