The important thing when exporting is to closely follow market requirements. Agricultural products entering the EU must ensure that pesticide residues do not exceed the maximum allowable level under EU law.

Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam, Deputy Director of SPS Vietnam Office spoke at the conference. Photo: Bich Hong/BNEWS/TTXVN

On the morning of June 14, in Phu Yen, the National Notification Office and Inquiry Point on Sanitation, Epidemiology and Animal and Plant Quarantine in Vietnam (SPS Vietnam); coordinate with Phu Yen Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to organize a conference to disseminate regulations and commitments on food safety; and animal and plant quarantine in the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Union (EU).

According to Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam, Deputy Director of the Vietnam SPS Office, updating and disseminating regulations on food safety and animal and plant quarantine (SPS) to management agencies; Enterprises, cooperatives and farmer households are especially important.

Because SPS regulations are mandatory regulations, if violated, the import partner will be warned of violation, which can even lead to being banned. This will cause impact and damage to businesses and especially affect Vietnam's agricultural product industry and brand in the international arena.

Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam recommends that businesses, for products of plant origin, need to further strengthen compliance with EU regulations; especially the control of pesticide residues when many EU maximum allowable residue levels (MRLs) are at very low levels. According to Mr. Nam, agricultural and food products that want to be imported into the EU must comply with the regulations of this market such as: Regulations on business list registration; regulations on MRLs for products of plant origin, regulations on antibiotic residue levels for products of animal origin.

Or, regulations on food additives, materials in contact with food, regulations on mixed products, regulations on disease-free zones, regulations on food safety assurance, source traceability origin for processing facilities, IUU regulations, anti-deforestation regulations (EUDR) or other related regulations...

For detailed regulations for each product, exporters should refer to official competent agencies or the Vietnam SPS Office for guidance. "Currently, the EU divides imported agricultural and food products into two categories, low risk and high risk. Among them, low risk products, through your assessment, will not require control at Systematically at the border gate. On the contrary, high-risk products will need many control measures," Mr. Nam said.

View of the online conference. Photo: Bich Hong/BNEWS/TTXVN

Recently, Vietnamese instant noodle products were removed from the EU's control list. Mr. Pham Trung Thanh, Head of Foreign Affairs, Acecook Vietnam Joint Stock Company, said that this is good news; not only for Acecook Vietnam's production activities but also for all other instant noodle manufacturing businesses in Vietnam as well as businesses intending to export to the European market.

The EU's removal of Vietnamese instant food products from the border inspection list shows the remarkable efforts of Vietnamese manufacturers in control; Ensuring product quality as well as proper instructions from management agencies, helping to promptly resolve problems for businesses. At the same time, this also creates confidence for food safety management agencies in the EU about the quality of Vietnamese instant noodle products after a period of monitoring and evaluating quality before export.

Over the past time, Acecook Vietnam Joint Stock Company has always tried to maintain strict control measures for each group of input materials through risk assessment. The entire production process applies modern food safety management tools based on international food safety standards. Therefore, finished products are inspected to ensure they meet standards before shipment.

In addition, Vietnam is also accompanying and improving the quality management capacity of partners supplying input materials. For businesses, this is a very important step, because this is the starting point of the supply chain. When the raw materials are safe, the quality of the final product is guaranteed.

According to Mr. Nguyen Trung Thanh, the important thing when exporting is to closely follow market requirements. The Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has helped lower tariffs. However, commodities face technical barriers and the constant regulatory and updating requirements of that market. Therefore, to update this information as well as to properly understand, understand and implement it, businesses need to coordinate with management agencies and branches.

Information about the new EU regulations on synthetic products, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Long, Vietnam SPS Office emphasized: These are products of plant origin and processed products of animal origin. All processed products of animal origin contained in composite products must come from EU approved facilities located in countries authorized to export such processed products of animal origin to EU. The country of origin of the composite product must be listed in Annex –I of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/405.

The country of origin of the compounded product has an approved residue control plan (RCP) for pharmacologically active substances and residues, contaminants and pesticide residues. Synthetic products are subject to the control of the BCP listed in Regulation (EU) 2021/632. Synthetic products shall exclude collagen, gelatine and highly refined products listed in section XVI, point 1 , Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004.

Information about products of plant origin imported into the EU, Mr. Luong Ngoc Quang, Plant Protection Department said, Vietnam's products of plant origin exported to the EU, including vegetables and fruits and exporters do not need formal approval from EU regulators. Products must be risk assessed using a pest approach. EU controls are enhanced if there are no remedies.

According to Mr. Luong Ngoc Quang, all shipments exported to the EU must meet the requirement that the product is not on the list of plants, plant products banned or temporarily suspended from import into EU countries. The product is not contaminated with EU plant quarantine objects and is almost not contaminated with other pests.

Accordingly, the product must have a Plant Quarantine Certificate (PC); Except for 5 fruits, pineapple, banana, coconut, durian and dates do not require PC. In addition, wooden packaging materials must meet international standards for wooden packaging materials (ISPM-15).

Regarding food safety regulations, Mr. Luong Ngoc Quang emphasized that pesticide residues on products exported to the EU must not exceed the maximum allowable level under EU law. The EU Pesticides Database allows users to search for information on active ingredients approved for use in the EU and MRLs on food products.

If a particular pesticide has not yet had an EU MRL established and is not included in the EU pesticide database; that drug will have a default MRL of 0.01 mg/kg applied, unless a different default value is specified in consideration of commonly available analytical methods.

Source: Bnews