Deputy Minister Do Xuan Tuyen: Accelerating the Proposal for a Unified Food Safety Management Authority
The Ministry of Health discusses finalizing the proposal to unify state management of food safety to enhance efficiency from central to local levels.
On the afternoon of July 21st, Deputy Minister Do Xuan Tuyen chaired an important meeting of the Drafting Committee at the Ministry of Health to review and address feedback from the Government Party Committee regarding the proposal to refine the state management apparatus for food safety. The core objective is to establish a unified management structure from the central government down to the local level.
Deputy Minister Do Xuan Tuyen emphasized the critical necessity of refining the draft in the current context. The meeting was attended by representatives from various Departments, Agencies, and Institutes under the Ministry of Health, as well as delegates from other relevant ministries and sectors.
According to the report, 15 members of the Government Party Committee provided input, with 12 in full agreement and 3 offering additional suggestions. Key focus areas for refinement include integrating provincial-level management plans with the Law on Urban Development, ensuring institutional synchronization, reorganizing human resources without creating additional layers, and clearly defining management functions between the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Director General of the Vietnam Food Administration, Chu Quoc Thinh, clarified specific technical aspects of the proposal. The advisory group also requested the Drafting Committee to clarify the legal basis and specific criteria for the Food Safety Department model in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, while establishing inter-agency data-sharing mechanisms instead of forming unnecessary specialized organizations at the communal level.
Concluding the meeting, Deputy Minister Do Xuan Tuyen affirmed that unifying the food safety management authority is an urgent requirement to overcome the limitations of the current fragmented model. This serves as a strategic foundation to enhance state management efficacy, protect consumer rights, foster a transparent business environment, and facilitate international integration.
The Deputy Minister instructed the Vietnam Food Administration to coordinate with the Legal Department to conduct a thorough review, ensuring that the final proposal meets all political, legal, and practical requirements before submission to the competent authorities for approval.
