The frequency of testing pesticides for certain vegetables and spices in Vietnam is about 50% while dragon fruit remains around 10%, this has been applied since November 23. Every six months, the European Commission reviews the list of foods and feed of non-animal origin from specific countries, subject to temporary strengthening official controls at border checkpoints to ensure food safety.
This will increase the time frame for customs to clear agricultural products, which have suffered many delays pertaining to the COVID-19 epidemic, affecting the finances of businesses and the quality of goods, especially fresh fruit and vegetable products.
Not only the EU market, but also the Chinese market, during the first nine months of 2021, statistics show that there were 138 instances of Vietnam's food products in violation of China's export regulations. These violations are raising concerns about ensuring the quality of agricultural products to meet the standards of importing countries.
Faced with that situation, the Vietnam Sanitary and Phytosanitary Notification Authority and Enquiry Point (SPS Vietnam) quickly organised online conferences to popularise commitments on sanitary, epidemiological and phytosanitary measures, related to major export markets such as the EU, and China.
The Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade organised a series of consulting sessions in relation to exporting agricultural products as well as food to each individual market.
However, in order for Vietnamese agricultural products to fully and uniformly meet the standards of the importer’s market, especially the high-quality markets, such as the EU, the US, and even China, it is necessary to strictly and methodically implement from the production stage from the raw material area to the processing stage in order to ensure the quality of the finished products.
In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to the early implementation of the content for sustainable agricultural development that many countries are interested in practicing. This includes reducing the following, such as use of chemical pesticides, nutrient loss, using chemical fertilizers, sales of antibiotics to farm animals while increasing the area of organic farming.
