National Assembly Chairman: Decisively Eliminate Acts of Poisoning Consumers for Profit
National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man emphasizes the shift to substantive post-market inspection and the implementation of strict sanctions against food safety violations.
On the afternoon of October 24, during the discussion on the draft Law on Food Safety (amended), National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man emphasized the importance of unifying state management. He affirmed that the core goal is a strong shift from pre-market to substantive post-market inspection, while establishing effective sanctions to protect public health and national prestige.
The Chairman highly appreciated the preparations made by the Government and the Ministry of Health, while requesting that breakthrough policies be specified within the Law rather than hidden in sub-law documents. He emphasized: “Breakthroughs must be in the law, not in decrees”. Accordingly, the roadmap for applying advanced management systems and import inspection methods must be clearly defined.
Regarding the management model, although the Ministry of Health is the focal agency, the participation of multiple ministries currently leads to overlapping roles or shifting responsibilities. The Chairman suggested that each task should have one primary responsible agency, and each food business should be managed by only one focal point, to resolve past issues related to functional foods or fake milk.
Regarding post-market inspection, he affirmed that administrative reform must be substantive and data-driven rather than requiring businesses to submit repetitive documents. For food poisoning incidents, the Chairman proposed mandatory system alerts within 2-6 hours of an event. Notably, he called for adding permanent bans from the industry and stated: “Do not let non-compliance be cheaper than compliance. Anyone who poisons consumers for profit must be eliminated from the market”.
