title: Food safety in Vietnam: where we are at and what we can learn from international experiences.
abstract: Food-borne diseases are attracting a lot of attention in Vietnam as a result of repeated episodes of adulterated and unsafe food. In this paper, we provide some perspectives on food safety in Vietnam from the point of view of an international research institution working on food safety with partners in the country. We argue that one of the key issues of food safety in Vietnam is that certain food value chain stakeholders lack ethics, which leads to the production and trading of unsafe foods in order to make profits irrespective of adverse health effects on consumers. In turn, the shortfall in ethical behaviours around food can be attributed to a lack of incentives or motivating factors.Although food safety causes panic in the population, it is unclear how much contaminated food contributes to the burden of food-borne diseases and food poisonings in Vietnam. However, globally, the biggest health problem associated with food are infections from consuming food contaminated with viruses, bacteria or parasites. A major food safety challenge is the inappropriate way of communicating food risks to the public. Another key constraint is the inherent difficulty in managing food in wet markets and from smallholder production. On the other hand, local foods, and local food production and processing are an important cultural asset as well as being essential to food safety, and these aspects can be put at risk if food safety concerns motivate consumers to purchase more imported foods.In this paper, we also discuss good experiences in food safety management from other countries and draw lessons learnt for Vietnam on how to better deal with the current food safety situation.
authors.affiliation: International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Room 301-302, B1 Building, Van Phuc Diplomatic Compound, 298 Kim Ma Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, Vietnam. h.nguyen@cgiar.org.
authors.forename: Hung
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9877-0596
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nguyen-Viet
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health and Ecosystem Research, Hanoi University of Public Health, 1A Duc Thang Road, North Tu Liem, Hanoi, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Tran Thi
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Tuyet-Hanh
authors.affiliation: International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Room 301-302, B1 Building, Van Phuc Diplomatic Compound, 298 Kim Ma Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Unger
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health and Ecosystem Research, Hanoi University of Public Health, 1A Duc Thang Road, North Tu Liem, Hanoi, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Sinh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dang-Xuan
authors.affiliation: International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Room 301-302, B1 Building, Van Phuc Diplomatic Compound, 298 Kim Ma Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Delia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grace
mesh_terms: D003257:Consumer Product Safety / Q000592:standards; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control; D019649:Food Industry / Q000941:ethics; D005516:Food Microbiology; D059022:Food Safety; D005523:Food Supply; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D007881:Legislation, Food; D010575:Pesticides; D011634:Public Health / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D014744:Vietnam
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides
keywords: Economic impact; Food safety; Health risk; Risk communication; Vietnam