Recently, the EU has increased the number of warnings against Vietnamese agricultural and food products. Deputy Director of the Vietnam SPS Office (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) Ngo Xuan Nam emphasized, 'it cannot be considered normal that the more exports, the more warnings increase'.

'It cannot be considered normal'

According to the Vietnam SPS Office, the total number of EU warnings on risks to global agricultural and food products in 2024 and the first two months of 2025 was 5,268 and 624, respectively. Notably, of the 8 warnings on new foods in the first two months of 2025 by the EU, 4 were related to Vietnam's export products, accounting for 50%.

Deputy Director of the Vietnam SPS Office Ngo Xuan Nam spoke at the conference. PHOTO: DAN THANH

Statistics on the number of EU warnings by some countries and territories in 2024 and 2 months of 2025 show that the number of warnings for Vietnam is 114/5,268 (2.2%) and 16/624 (2.6%), respectively. The number of warnings for Vietnam is much higher than that of Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, and Japan in the same period.

Considering the warnings for Vietnamese agricultural products and food exported to the EU according to hazards from 2023 to February 2025, the top warning hazard is chemical residues (pesticides and veterinary drugs) with the warning rates in 2023, 2024 and the first 2 months of this year being 38/67 (56.7%); 61/114 (53.5%); 5/16 (31.3%), respectively.

Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are the two localities with the highest number of warnings. In 2023, 2024 and the first two months of this year, the number of EU warnings on agricultural and food products from Ho Chi Minh City was 34/67 (50.7%); 42/114 (36.8%); 4/16 (25%); Hanoi was 7/67 (10.4%); 10/114 (8.8%) and 0%, respectively.

"Most of the provinces and cities that have been warned a lot are localities that have not yet developed a plan to implement the Project to improve the effectiveness of the implementation of the Agreement on the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) of the World Trade Organization and SPS commitments within the framework of free trade agreements (abbreviated as the SPS Project)", Deputy Director of the Vietnam SPS Office Ngo Xuan Nam shared at the Conference on urgent implementation of measures to enhance compliance with food safety regulations of the EU market. The conference was organized by the Vietnam SPS Office in coordination with the Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper on the morning of February 24.

Many opinions say that the reason why Vietnam's agricultural and food products exported to the EU are increasingly warned is because the export value has been increasing over the years.

However, Mr. Nam emphasized: "In recent times, the number of warnings has increased relatively large, but the export value of agricultural and food products to the EU market has been slower. In the context of Vietnam aiming to increasingly increase the value of exported agricultural products, it cannot be considered normal that the more exports and the more warnings increase".

Closely monitor the supply chain and raw material areas

One of the reasons why Vietnam's agricultural and food products are increasingly warned by the EU, as pointed out by Mr. Nam, is that local management agencies have not closely followed up on issues related to SPS. As of February 20, only 18/63 (28.5%) provinces and cities have developed plans to implement the SPS Project.

Countries and territories are increasingly increasing food safety and animal and plant disease safety measures for imported agricultural, food and aquatic products. PHOTO: TN

Currently, countries and territories are increasingly increasing SPS measures on imported agricultural products, food and aquatic products. Mr. Nam said that in the coming time, it is necessary to tighten the use of pesticides, antibiotics and chemicals in agricultural and aquatic product production; strengthen control at border gates, improve the process of testing goods before export, reduce the risk of goods being returned due to violations of EU regulations...

"The Vietnam SPS Office will increase work with EU specialized agencies on guiding compliance with new EU regulations, clarifying the tracing of some violating businesses but lacking sufficient information," said Mr. Nam.

Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper