This food safety management system partnership was implemented as part of the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme, where it aids developing markets in the promotion of economic development and social welfare.
The new system closely emulates South Korea’s own, and is meant to be an integrated version that has been localised according to local Vietnamese requirements but also comprises crucial components such as platforms to manage administrative information, laboratory information and public announcements.
“All these component systems play different important roles – for instance, the administrative information system will allow for real-time reporting between the central and local governments by digitising food safety administrative tasks e.g. food poisoning outbreaks in any of Vietnam’s 63 provinces and cities,” Vietnam Food Agency Director Nguyen Thanh Phong said via a formal statement.
“The ability to have real-time reporting of food poisoning outbreaks online is particularly important to us as it enables a rapid response to any such outbreaks, and is expected to play a significant role in strengthening local food safety management in Vietnam.
“Overall, with the establishment of this system, we expect that this will greatly contribute to the digital transformation of Vietnam’s food system, and will significantly increase the efficiency of food safety management work and strengthen public safety management.”
The laboratory information system component will cater to officers from Vietnam’s 49 food inspection agencies nationwide, whereas the public information disclosure and announcement system will function as a food safety information portal for the pubic to access food safety alerts and updates in real time.
South Korea’s benefits
South Korea assisted Vietnam with the development of the new system across four separate stages from system establishment to stabilisation, and supplied both the technology as well as the hardware and training to get it up and running.
This included a total of 105 electronic products from servers to laptops.
“We plan to continue to support the system such that it can be effectively utilised nationwide across Vietnam – this will not only benefit Vietnamese consumers, but also South Korean consumers,” project Planning Coordinator Woo Young-taek said via a formal statement.
“Vietnam is a major trade partner for South Korea, seventh by weight as of 2023, and with the strengthening of its food safety management this means that South Korean consumers will also have access to safer food imports from Vietnam.”
With the successful completion of this ODA project, MFDS is on the lookout for more similar projects in developing markets to assist more countries needing it.
“Such projects also serve to increase the trust and co-operation between both countries involved, leading to better trade environments,” the ministry said.
“MFDS will continue to actively seek out and expand our international development co-operation projects in the food and beverage sector under the ODA programme.”