CIRCULAR

ON TRACEABILITY OF FOOD-RELATED PRODUCTS UNDER MANAGEMENT OF MINISTRY OF HEALTH

Pursuant to Law on Food Safety No. 55/2010/QH12 dated June 17, 2010;

Pursuant to Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP dated February 02, 2018 of Government on elaborating to a number of Articles of Law on Food Safety;

Pursuant to Decree No. 75/2017/ND-CP dated June 20, 2017 of Government on functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of Ministry of Health;

At the request of Director of Vietnam Food Administration;

Minister of Health promulgates Circular on traceability of food-related products under management of Ministry of Health,

Article 1. Scope

This Circular prescribes principles and cases of traceability and responsibility to implement traceability with respect to food, micronutrients in food, additives, aromatic spices, processing aids, tools, packaging and container materials that come food processing aids that come into direct contact with food under management of Ministry of Health (hereinafter referred to as “food-related products“) specified under Annex II attached to Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP dated February 2, 2018 of Government.

Article 2. Regulated entities

This Circular applies to entities and persons participating in manufacture and business relating food-related products specified in Article 1 of this Circular (hereinafter referred to as "establishment”); other entities and persons whose operations involve food safety assurance under management of Ministry of Health in Vietnam.

Article 3. Principles of traceability of food-related products

1. The traceability of food-related products shall be implemented following the one step forward – one step back approach in a manner that ensures tracing and identification of the previous manufacturing process and the next manufacturing process in manufacturing facilities; the previous manufacturing or business establishment and the next manufacturing or business establishment which have manufactured and conducted business regarding the food-related products.

2. The traceability of food-related products shall be implemented in batch with respect to the food-related products that require traceability.

3. When tracing origins of potentially unsafe food-related products, the manufacturing or business establishments shall utilize information extracted from database of product traceability created by such establishments as specified in Articles 4 and 5 of this Circular and other relevant sources of information.

Article 4. Requirements regarding information of traceability database of food-related products applicable to food-related product manufacturing establishments

When establishing a traceability database of food-related products, a food-related product manufacturing establishment must organize, keep record, archive, be ready to extract and report the following information:

1. Information on batch of the food-related products:

a) Name of the food-related products;

b) Batch number of the food-related products;

c) Amount of products in a manufactured batch;

d) Production date of the batch of the food-related products;

dd) Expiration date with respect to products compelled by law to specify the expiration date thereof;

e) Product code of food-related products (if any);

g) Ingredients, additives and processing aids of the batch: name, information on the product origin complying with regulations on domestically manufactured products, information on goods origin complying with regulations on imported products.

h) Packaging, tools, wrapping and container materials coming into contact with the food when used to wrap the food-related products: name, information on the product origin complying with regulations on domestically manufactured products, information on goods origin complying with regulations on imported products

2. Amount of products in batches that are delivered or in inventory of the food-related product manufacturing establishment.

3. List of name and address of clients, agents distributing food-related products (if any); amount of products in batches received, sold and in inventory.

Article 5. Requirements regarding information of traceability database of food-related products applicable to food-related product business establishments

When establishing a database of traceability of food-related products, a food-related product business establishment must organize, keep record, archive, be ready to extract and report the following information:

1. Name and address of facilities providing food-related products for the business establishment.

2. Information on kind of food-related products, amount of products of batches received, sold and in inventory of the business establishment.

3. List of name and address of clients, agents distributing food-related products (if any); amount of products in batches received, sold and in inventory.

Article 6. Cases of traceability of potentially unsafe food-related products

1. A food-related product manufacturing and business establishment must trace origin of a potentially unsafe food-related product as soon as he/she detects or receives warnings from entities or persons regarding potentially unsafe food-related products of the establishment.

2. A food-related product manufacturing and business establishment must trace the origin of a potentially unsafe product at request of competent authority.

Article 7. Responsibilities of food-related product manufacturing and business establishments

1. Establish the traceability database of food-related products, fully retain all information on the batch of food-related products, origins, product safety, materials, manufacturing process, processing, preservation and trade of food-related products as specified in Articles 4 and 5 of this Circular.

2. Archive and maintain the traceability database of food-related products of the facilities for the period of no less than 12 months from the expiration date of the product batches, 24 months from the production date with respect to tools, materials coming into direct contact with food and food-related products of which the display of expiration date is not compulsory.

3. Trace the origin of food-related products as specified in Article 6 of this Circular and submit reports implementation results of traceability of food-related products to competent authorities within a maximum of 5 working days from the date on which warnings of entities, persons are received or requested by competent authorities. The report must fully include information specified in Articles 4 and 5 of this Circular.

4. Analyze and identify reason for unsafe situation of batches of food-related products that are traced. If a food-related product is unsafe, it must be recalled and handled as per the law.

5. Application of traceability database of food-related products based on the product code shall be implemented at request of competent authorities.

Article 8. Entry into force

This Circular comes into force from October 16, 2019.

Article 9. Responsibility for implementation

1. Vietnam Food Administration (Ministry of Health) shall organize, guide, examine and inspect the implementation of this Circular on a nationwide scale.

2. Department of Health and food safety competent agencies of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall organize, guide, examine and inspect the implementation of this Circular within their respective division.

3. Director General of Vietnam Food Administration, Chief of the Ministry Office, Chief Inspector of Ministry, Directors, Director General of Departments, General Departments affiliated to Ministry of Health and relevant entities and persons shall implement this Circular.

Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported to the Ministry of Health (Vietnam Food Administration)./.