Detailed and comprehensive requirements
According to Ngo Xuan Nam, Deputy Director of the Viet Nam Sanitary and Phytosanitary Notification Authority and Enquiry Point (Viet Nam SPS), from August 1 to 15, 2026, World Trade Organisation (WTO) members issued 23 SPS notifications, including six draft regulations and 17 measures already in force. Many of these notifications could affect Viet Nam’s agricultural and aquatic exports.
In the US, new regulations concern food additive management programmes, colour additives and maximum residue limits for pesticides. The UK has adjusted maximum residue levels for certain active substances in agricultural products, while the European Union (EU) has changed limits for certain contaminants in food.
The Republic of Korea has added sesame seeds, perilla seeds, almonds and cashew nuts to the list of allergens that must be declared on labels, while also increasing penalties for misleading advertising.
Other markets have also specified requirements covering heat treatment, microbiological standards, packaging, ingredients and food labelling, as well as conditions for slaughterhouses, veterinary drug certification and phytosanitary measures.
These requirements are accompanied by actual alerts concerning exported agricultural products. In the EU market, from the beginning of the year to mid-August 2026, the Viet Nam SPS recorded several alerts involving Vietnamese food and other exports. These included dumplings and shrimp-filled ravioli containing egg as an undeclared allergen; several products found to contain animal DNA (chicken and pork) inconsistent with their declared information; frog legs contaminated with Salmonella; and tra fish fillets in which Vibrio cholerae was detected.
The EU also recorded cases involving pangasius fillets that failed to meet irradiation requirements and BPA (bisphenol A), a chemical that can migrate from packaging into food, failing to meet market requirements.
In the seafood sector alone, according to the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the US, EU and Japan recorded 15 consignments from Viet Nam that were subject to alerts or rejected imports in July 2026, up from 10 consignments in June. In the US, six of the seven rejected consignments were related to hygiene conditions during production, packaging and storage. In Japan, four consignments were subject to alerts, three of which involved microbiological criteria.
Substantive control rather than paperwork compliance
Analysing alerts concerning the seafood sector, VASEP expert Tran Hoang Yen said that, in addition to food safety controls, importing markets are increasingly scrutinising compliance with product labelling regulations. The key requirement for businesses, therefore, is to comprehensively review the implementation of GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices), SSOP (Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures) and HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) systems at all stages, including raw material reception, pre-processing, freezing, packaging and storage.
Businesses should also strengthen monitoring of actual hygiene conditions rather than merely checking documentation; tighten microbiological controls on water, ice, processing environments and finished products; pay particular attention to preventing cross-contamination in products intended to be eaten raw, ready-to-eat or deeply processed; and strictly control residues of veterinary drugs and prohibited chemicals from the farming areas and at the raw-material stage, including imported raw materials.
“Another important solution is to maintain a risk-based sampling programme while strengthening supplier assessments and traceability. Product formulations, additives and labelling should also be reviewed against the requirements of each market, particularly information on allergens, ingredients and permitted additives,” Hoang Yen stressed.
From the perspective of a specific market, a representative of the Viet Nam Trade Office in Japan said that in the second quarter of 2026, Japan stepped up enforcement of regulations concerning per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), such as PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS, in food, food-contact packaging and certain other products.
Although Japan remains a market with considerable potential for Vietnamese agricultural products, including seafood, processed agricultural products, wood and wooden products, businesses need to gradually upgrade their production processes, technologies and management practices to meet technical, social and environmental standards if they are to expand their market share.
In the EU market, a representative of the Department of Foreign Market Development under the Ministry of Industry and Trade advised businesses to focus on depth rather than breadth by prioritising higher-value-added products capable of meeting comprehensive quality standards. At the same time, they should pursue long-term strategies and continue investing to meet new requirements that may emerge in the future. This is also an important direction for expanding markets and helping realise the target of 74-75 billion USD in agricultural exports for the sector as a whole in 2026.
