In the past 10 months, the European Union (EU) has issued nearly 3,900 food safety warnings for imported agricultural and food products. Of these, there are only 55 warnings for agricultural products and food from Vietnam. This number has decreased by about 15% compared to 2022.
Vegetables and fruits are the most warned product group with 23 cases, followed by seafood products (19), confectionery and other processed products (13). Of these, violations due to chemical residues account for the highest percentage at nearly 60%, violations due to mycotoxins account for 9%, and other violations account for 33%.
Many reasons lead to Vietnam’s low warning rate, including: Vietnam has well implemented regulations on food safety and disease safety according to the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Union (EVFTA); Vietnam has a relatively strict food safety and disease safety control system, such as: system of legal documents on food safety and disease safety; system of organizations and agencies managing food safety and disease safety; Food safety and disease safety inspection and monitoring system.
Besides, Vietnam has a lot of experience in exporting agricultural products and food to the EU market.
The Office of Notification and National Inquiry Point on Sanitary Epidemiology and Plant and Plant Quarantine (SPS Vietnam) said that with the Vietnam – EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), basically, Vietnam has well enforced regulations on food safety and disease safety.
However, according to regulations on food safety and disease safety, every 6 months, the EU will review all enterprises exporting agricultural and food products.
If regulations are well complied with, the EU will consider reducing the frequency of inspections and regulations and procedures for imported Vietnamese agricultural and food products. On the contrary, if not done well, Vietnamese agricultural and food products imported into the EU will be subject to increased inspection frequency.
In addition, to maintain a low warning rate, Vietnam needs to continue to well implement regulations on food safety and disease safety, including: continuing to update regulations on food safety and disease safety. EU epidemic safety; Strengthen inspection and supervision of food safety and disease safety, especially for high-risk products; Strengthen propaganda and dissemination of regulations on food safety and disease safety for enterprises exporting agricultural products and food.
In addition to meeting EU regulations, agricultural and food products imported into this market must also satisfy consumer standards. European buyers’ standard requirements are often higher than EU legal regulations. For example, MRL levels are typically 30 – 100% higher.
Therefore, businesses exporting agricultural products and food to the EU market need to identify markets, buyers and their specific requirements. European buyers typically have the following requirements: a food safety management system based on hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP); Comply with international standards on food safety, such as GlobalGAP, BRC, IFS…
Source: vtv.vn