Vietnam is one of the US’S 15 largest agricultural trade partners. In 2016, the exports of fish, shrimp and crab to the market alone brought $1.4 billion. However, it is becoming more and more difficult to export farm produce to the market because of new regulations in FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act). Meanwhile, Vietnamese businesses lack information about the law. 

Recently, 679 exporters, mostly food companies, have lost export licenses to the US because they did not re-register with the agency as required, or they re-registered but didn’t follow the required current procedures. 

The Vietnamese commercial affairs division under the Vietnam Embassy in the US told Vietnamese food exporters to check business codes with FDA before shipping goods to the US. However, many enterprises did not know about this.

A high number of consignments to the US have been refused this year because Vietnamese exporters were unaware of new regulations set by the US.

Vu Kim Hanh, chair of the Vietnam High Quality Product Enterprise Association, said though the regulation took effect a long time ago, Vietnamese businesses and agencies did not pay much attention.

FSMA requires preventive measures, not just examinations at border. In the last, the exports to the US were only examined and tested at the target ports. But with FSMA, FDA will examine the production process at the factories.

Nguyen Huy from Bureau Veritas Vietnam said some Vietnamese businesses think they have certificates on food hygiene. They don’t understand that FSMA is a law, not a voluntary certificate. 

In November 2016, Vinamilk organized a training course about the new law for 20 high-ranking executives. In fact, US importers also urge organizing training courses for Vietnamese businesses as they fear they cannot buy products from Vietnam. 

FSMA set up a completely new regulation to ensure that food safety of every factory must be controlled by an officer who has certificates granted by FDA. The best solution for enterprises is send staff to training courses organized by FDA.

FSMA sets four food safety programs: control and prevention during the production process; control and prevent allergens; hygienic prevention and control during production process; prevention and control in the enterprises’ supply chain.

The second program on preventing and controlling allergens is one of the issues that Vietnamese enterprises find difficult to deal with. FDA says that 36-38 percent of Vietnamese consignments were turned down because of problems in declarations about allergens.

RELATED NEWS

US largest export market for VN’s footwear, bags

Food exporters removed from US list as new regulations take effect