Digital Commons Food safety governance in Vietnam 2018

DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION

Vietnamese people frequently express fear about commercially available food in their
country. What accounts for these fears and what is the Government of Vietnam doing to respond
to these fears? That is the puzzle this thesis aims to solve.
Traditional Vietnamesefood consumption patterns are increasingly burdened byfood
safety challengesaccompanyingVietnam’stransitionto a market-oriented economy. An already
weak food safety regulatory system is forced to navigate a changing society, political climate,
economy, and international market.
This public policy study is based on survey research conducted in Vietnam, personal
interviews with vendors, consumers, government officials, NGO representatives and extensive
research into scholarly literature and reports by international agencies and the Vietnamese
government. It details the various food safety issues which plague the food sector of the
Vietnamese economy and provides concrete evidence which confirms the Vietnamese people’s
fear of their food system. Four case studies–supermarkets and convenience stores; fruits and
vegetables; meat; and seafood–provide an overview of the food industry and its accompanying
regulations in order to demonstrate a lack of enforcement across the entire food system. This
thesis argues that the Vietnamese government has failed to adequately address food safety
matters.