DECISION

APPROVING THE PROJECT OF RAPID ALERT SYSTEM AND ANALYSIS OF FOOD SAFETY RISK IN VIETNAM

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Government organization dated December 25th 2001;

Pursuant to the National Assembly’s Resolution 34/2009/QH12 dated June 19th 2009 of the 12th National Assembly on the intensification of the implementation of policies and laws on food safety and quality control;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 79/2008/ND-CP dated July 18th 2008 on the inspection of food safety and hygiene;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 734/QD-TTg dated March 25th 2010, approving the Plan for the implementation of  the National Assembly’s Resolution 34/2009/QH12 dated June 19th 2009 of the 12th National Assembly on the intensification of the implementation of policies and laws on food safety and quality control;

At the request of the Minister of Health,

DECIDES:

Article 1. Approving the Project of Rapid alert system and analysis of food safety risk in Vietnam, in particular:

1. Targets

a) General targets

Establish a food safety risk analysis and rapid alert system capable of rapidly processing information about food safety, food safety incidents, and contributing to improving the efficiency of food safety assurance and public health protection.

b) Specific targets

- Target 1: Build and organize the operation of national, ministerial, sectoral, provincial, and on-site food safety rapid alert systems;

- Target 2: Improve the quality of information serving the operation of food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems nationwide;

- Target 3: Analyze food safety risks of some common food groups in Vietnam.

2. Targets to achieve by 2016

a) Build and organize the operation of national, ministerial, sectoral, provincial, and on-site food safety rapid alert systems:

- Issue regulations on tasks and organization of food safety rapid alert systems, including: Central alert office, ministerial, sectoral, provincial alert offices, and on-site alert offices; the regulations on the reception and processing of information and warnings about food safety and food safety incidents at all level;

- Develop and run software programs that rapidly receive, process, access, and store information and alerts about food safety and food safety incidents at 3 levels;

- All food safety alert offices of ministries, provinces, and units are connected to the central alert office;

- All personnel related to food safety rapid alert systems are trained in management and technology;

- All food safety alert offices of all units in food safety rapid alert system are adequately and consistently provided with instruments for receiving and processing information and alerts about food safety.

b) Organize and maintain the reception and processing of information and alerts about food safety and food safety incidents nationwide.

- More than 70% of alerts about food safety are quickly processed;

- All food safety incidents are promptly and effectively controlled.

c) Improve the quality of information serving the operation of food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems nationwide from the Ministries and agencies in charge of the state management of food safety (the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade):

- All agencies in charge of the state management of food safety (the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade) shall supervise the quality and safety of food groups; carry out inspection and post-inspection of food safety annually throughout the country;

- The agencies in charge of the state management of food safety shall reach and agreement on the methods of reporting, the responsibility to report and make statistics of tasks:

+ Monitoring food poisoning and foodborne illnesses;

+ Monitoring food safety during the production and trade of foods;

+ Inspecting the safety of imported and exported food;

+ Controlling food safety along the border;

+ Updating alerts about food contamination and food safety incidents from food safety alert systems of the region, the world, and the involved countries.

d) Analyzing food safety risks of some common food groups in Vietnam.

- Assess high risks of contamination to 5 – 10 common foods every year;

- Design, organize, and conduct studies on total diets of various subjects throughout the country;

- All risk assessors are trained in the methods and techniques of assessing food safety risks.

3. Implementation schedule

- 2013 – 2016: Build and organize the operation of food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems nationwide;

- From2016: Maintain the operation of food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems nationwide.

4. Activities of the Project

a) Activity 1: Build and organize the operation of national, ministerial, sectoral, provincial, and on-site food safety rapid alert systems;

- National food safety alert office (central alert office):

+ Establish 01 central alert office to receive and process national information and alerts about food safety and food safety incidents at the Ministry of Health.

+ Tasks and activities:

. Receive and process information and alerts about food safety and food safety incidents from the alert offices level 1 affiliated to the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, provinces, and facilities (alert offices level 2) affiliated to the Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the General Department of Customs, the Ministry of Finance, the Vietnam Standard and Consumer Association;

. Gather information about food safety from the international food safety alert systems, systems that process information about food safety and food safety incidents, and sound alerts about food safety incidents of national importance.

- Ministerial, sectoral, and provincial alert offices (alert offices level 1):

+ Establish alert offices level 1 at each Ministry, functional agency and province, including: Vietnam Food Administration, the Ministry of Health; the National Agro - Forestry - Fisheries Quality Assurance Department, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development; the Science and Technology Department, the Ministry of Industry and Trade; provincial sub-department of food safety and hygiene;

+ Tasks and activities:

+ Receive and process national information and alerts about food safety and food safety incidents from alert offices level 2 at the units affiliated to Ministries and provinces, according to their functions, tasks, and scope of management;

. Gather, receive, and process information about food safety and food safety incidents from international food safety alert systems and relevant communication systems;

. Collect and provide information about the supervision and inspection of food safety and food safety incidents under the management of Ministries and provincial governments; process and provide information about food safety incidents of ministerial, sectoral, and provincial importance.

- On-site food safety alert offices (alert offices level 2):

+ Establish alert offices level 2 at the units affiliated to Ministries and provincial governments, and the units involved in food safety assurance, including:

. The units affiliated to Ministries shall inspect, supervise and apply for the certification of products, specialized institutions, local food safety laboratories, and state agencies in charge of imported food inspection; and the units at border checkpoints;

. + The provincial units in charge of food safety: Sub-department of Food Safety, Preventive medicine centers, food safety laboratories;

. Large-scale enterprises that produce and trade food; food safety associations, Vinastas.

+ Tasks and activities:

. Provide information about food safety and food safety incidents according to their functions, tasks, and scope of management;

. Gather and summarize information about food safety and food safety incidents, certify and provide adequate information about food safety and food safety incidents within the delegated authority.

- Strengthen and improve the capability and operation of food safety alert offices at all level in the food safety rapid alert system:

+ Formulate and issue regulations on the provision, reception, and processing of information about food safety and food safety incidents;

+ Provide training for managers and professionals in food safety alert systems (Central alert office, alert offices level 1, alert office level 2);

+ Develop a database and software for storing food safety data, provide data management equipment for alert offices in the food safety rapid alert system.

b) Activity 2: Improve the quality of information serving the operation of food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems nationwide;

- Strengthen and improve the capability of supervising food safety and food safety incidents nationwide:

+ Review and assess the organization and capability of supervising food safety and food safety incidents in the production and trade of food of Ministries, agencies, and local governments;

+ Provide training in supervising food safety and food safety incidents for officers in Ministries, agencies, and provinces;

+ Complete the procedure for food safety supervision; the instruments for supervising, making statistics, reports, data input, information processing, and data storage in harmony with the region and the world;

+ Improve the capability and standardize food safety laboratories in system that supervise the provision of information about food safety;

+ Formulate regulations on the cooperation, supervision, and provision of information about food safety and food safety incidents in each Ministry, agency, provincial People’s Committee, and organizations.

- Standardize the information serving the activities of the food safety risk analysis and rapid alert system:

Formulate and launch the programs and plans for supervising information about food safety and food safety incidents, with regard to the list of foods under the management of Ministries, agencies, and local governments.

c) Activity 3: Analyze food safety risks of some common food groups in Vietnam.

- Strengthen the organization and improve the capability of analyzing food safety risks in Vietnam (assessment – management – propagation):

+ Establish Analysis board to provide technical support, formulate plans, and assess food safety risks in Vietnam;

+ Provide training in food safety risk analysis for officials;

+ Integrate the risk assessment procedure of Codex alimentarius commission, World Organization for Animal Health, and International plant protection convention.

- Analyze common food safety risks in Vietnam:

+ Study total diet;

+ Assess the threat of some risks that might harm consumers’ health in common foods in Vietnam;

+ Propagate the food safety risks serving the management of food safety in Vietnam.

5. Solutions:

a) Mechanism, policy, and organization:

- Issue regulations the functions, tasks, cooperation mechanism of alert offices and units in the food safety risk analysis and rapid alert system;

- Formulate and issue regulations on the operation and forms of statistics and reports on food safety and food safety incidents;

- Formulate and issues regulations on the finance for the management, provision, reception, and processing of information and alerts about food safety and food safety incidents;

- Apply advanced models to the management, provision, reception, and processing of information and alerts about food safety and food safety incidents that suit the reality in each period.

b) Solution for personnel:

- Make use of the existing food safety personnel at the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and relevant units; socio-political organizations, relevant vocational associations, Vietnamese and foreign experts;

- Employ Vietnamese and foreign experts to provide professional support and advices in the first stage of building the food safety risk analysis and rapid alert system;

- Determine the need for training, the training program in food safety, statistics, information, and reports on food safety, analysis of food contamination risk at Ministries and relevant organizations;

- Provide training courses in food safety for officials participating in food safety rapid alert systems at Ministries and relevant organizations;

- Cooperate with the Medical University, the universities that provide training in food technologies and relevant universities to employ capable officials in order to develop the food safety risk analysis and rapid alert system.

c) Technical solutions:

- Assess the conditions and demand for instruments of the food safety risk analysis and rapid alert system, analysis of food contamination, and forecast about food contamination nationwide;

- Invest in the communication system and network connection for all units in the food safety rapid alert system that suit each stage;

- Apply information technology to the construction, installation, and operation of the software that receive, process, and store information about food safety and food safety incidents;

- Formulate and conduct studies on total diet, analyze the risk of food contamination that affect public health;

- Conduct the studies on food safety risk assessment of common foods.

d) Financial solutions:

- Make budget estimates of each year and each stage to cover the activities of the Project from the budget of the Food safety and hygiene program 2013 – 2015, and other legitimate funding sources

- Integrate the supervision, reception, and processing of information and alerts about food safety and food safety incidents with other relevant targets.

6. Funding sources

- Central budget: via the National Program for food safety and hygiene 2013 – 2015, including regular expenditure and expenditure on development;

- Local budget: regular expenditure and expenditure on development;

- Aid, loans, and other legitimate funding sources

Article 2. Implementation

1. The Ministry of Health, which is the agency in charge of executing the Project, shall:

a) Cooperate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and involved unit in requesting the Prime Minister to establish a Project Management Council; formulating the charter and the plan for executing the Project.

b) Establish the central alert office; alert offices level 1 and alert offices level 2 affiliated to the Ministry of Health; formulate detailed programs and plans for the functions and tasks related to food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems.

c) Instruct and urge other agencies and provinces to execute the Project in accordance with the schedule and current regulations.

d) Provide adequate funding from the budget, international aid and cooperation to execute the Project under the guidance of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

dd) Inspect, assess, and report the progress and result of the Project to the Prime Minister.

2. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development shall:

a) Cooperate with the Ministry of Health in  the central alert office; alert offices level 1 and alert offices level 2 affiliated to the Ministry of Health; formulate detailed programs and plans for the functions and tasks related to food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems.

b) Establish alert offices level 1 and alert offices level 2 affiliated to the Ministry of Health; formulate detailed programs and plans for the operation of food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems within their functions, tasks, and scope of management.

c) Provide instructions to execute the Project within the delegated tasks on in accordance with the schedule and targets.

d) Provide adequate funding from the budget, international aid and cooperation to execute the Project under the guidance of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

dd) Send periodic reports on the progress of the Project to the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health shall summarize them and send reports to the Prime Minister.

3. The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall:

a) Cooperate with the Ministry of Health in the central alert office; alert offices level 1 and alert offices level 2 affiliated to the Ministry of Health; formulate detailed programs and plans for the functions and tasks related to food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems.

b) Establish alert offices level 1 and alert offices level 2 affiliated to the Ministry of Industry and Trade; formulate detailed programs and plans for the operation of food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems within their functions, tasks, and scope of management.

c) Provide instructions to execute the Project within the delegated tasks on in accordance with the schedule and targets.

d) Provide adequate funding from the budget, international aid and cooperation to execute the Project under the guidance of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

dd) Send periodic reports on the progress of the Project to the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health shall summarize them and send reports to the Prime Minister.

4. The Ministry of Finance shall:

a) Cooperate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in providing guidance on the financial mechanism for local governments so that they can balance their budget for the Project.

b) Cooperate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in allocating and ensuring the capital according to the schedule and progress of the Project every year:

c) Establish alert offices level 2 (affiliated to the General Department of Customs – the Ministry of Health); formulate detailed programs and plans for the operation of food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems within their functions, tasks, and scope of management.

5. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall:

a) Cooperate with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health in balancing and providing annual capital from the central budget, international aid and cooperation for Ministries and agencies to execute the Project.

b) Cooperate with the Ministry of Finance in providing guidance on the financial mechanism for local governments to balance their budget for the Project.

c) Guide People’s Committees of central-affiliated cities and provinces (hereinafter referred to as provincial People’s Committees) to prioritize their budget to execute the Project.

6. The Ministry of Science and Technology shall:

a) Cooperate with the Ministry of Health in formulating detailed plans for the tasks assigned according to the schedule and targets.

b) Establish alert offices level 2 (affiliated to the Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality); formulate detailed programs and plans for the operation of food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems within their functions, tasks, and scope of management.

c) Provide adequate funding from the budget, international aid and cooperation to execute the Project under the guidance of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

d) Send periodic reports on the progress of the Project to the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health shall summarize them and send reports to the Prime Minister.

7. Provincial People’s Committees shall:

a) Execute the Project locally according to the schedule and targets.

b) Establish alert offices level 1 and level 2 within the area under their management; establish offices to receive and process information at border checkpoints and along the border within the management.

c) Settle local food safety issues based on the alerts from food safety risk analysis and rapid alert systems.

d) Provide adequate funding from local budget to execute the Project under the guidance of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment; arrange personnel and provide equipment for executing the Project locally.

dd) Send periodic reports on the progress of the Project to the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health shall summarize them and send reports to the Prime Minister.

Article 3. This Decision comes into force from the day on which it is signed.

Article 4. Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of Governmental agencies, the Presidents of People’s Committees of central-affiliated cities and provinces are responsible for the implementation of this Decision./.