SERVICE FOR OBTAINING FOOD SAFETY CERTIFICATION

 

I. SERVICE PROVISION PROCESS AT VINASC:

 

Step 1. Vinasc receives information regarding the request for the Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety from the enterprise with the following basic contents:

• Information on the production and business establishment: Legal trading name; address; telephone; production and business lines;
• Type of business for which the enterprise needs to apply for the Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety: Production facility; business establishment; facility that both produces and sells; chain of food business establishments;
• List of business establishments belonging to the chain (In case of applying for the Certificate for a chain of food business establishments);
• List of product groups (for chains of food business establishments and general food business establishments): Bottled water, food flavorings, food additives, meat and meat products, vegetables, raw fresh milk… Vinasc will review the specific legal requirements involved to develop a service implementation plan.

Step 2. Depending on each specific case, Vinasc will consider providing advice and guidance related to the procedure for obtaining the Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety. The two parties discuss to agree on the service content. Then Vinasc drafts the contract and sends it back to the customer for signing.

Step 3. Vinasc guides customers to prepare documents related to the Procedure for obtaining the Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety as follows:

• Business registration certificate at the location requesting the Food Safety Certificate;
• List of employees to be trained;
• Health certificate of the facility owner;
• Health certificates of employees working directly at the facility;
• Copy of the confirmation of having been trained in food safety knowledge;
• Floor plan of the production and business facility.

Step 4. Vinasc receives back the full set of authenticated documents along with the documents the business needs to prepare to complete the application;

Step 5. Submit the application to the competent authority as prescribed;

• For individuals who are business households, submit the Application for Food Safety Permit at the District (district) People’s Committee
• For organizations that are enterprises and companies, submit the application to the Provincial (city) Food Safety and Hygiene Sub-Department or the Provincial (city) Food Safety Management Board.

Step 6. Competent state agencies inspect the actual conditions for ensuring food safety at the production and food business establishments. If the food safety conditions are met, proceed to issue the Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety;

Step 7. Transfer to the enterprise the specific results, listed in Section 2 below, that Vinasc collects on behalf of the enterprise during the service provision process.

 

II. SPECIFIC RESULTS

• Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety

III. ESTIMATED IMPLEMENTATION TIME

• Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety: 30-35 working days
• The estimated time above is calculated from the date Vinasc receives the full application as requested and sent to you.

IV. SOME REGULATIONS RELATED TO THE ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATES OF ELIGIBILITY FOR FOOD SAFETY

1. Establishments required to have a Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety:

• Food service business establishments, food processing establishments including: shops, stalls selling ready-to-eat food, cooked food, restaurants, ready-made meal processing establishments, canteens, and collective kitchens.
• Food business establishments are those that carry out one, several, or all activities of introducing, preserving, transporting, or trading food such as: food production establishments, food stores, supermarkets, markets.

2. Establishments not subject to the issuance of a Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety:

• Small-scale initial production;
• Production and trading of food without a fixed location;
• Small-scale preliminary processing;
• Small-scale food trading;
• Trading of prepackaged food;
• Production and trading of tools and materials for packaging and containing food;
• Restaurants in hotels;
• Collective kitchens without registration of food business lines;
• Street food business;
• Establishments that have been granted one of the following certificates: Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), Food Safety Management System ISO 22000, International Food Standard (IFS), Global Standard for Food Safety (BRC), Food Safety System Certification (FSSC 22000) or equivalent still valid.

3. Validity period of the Food Safety Certificate: The validity period of all types of food safety permits is 3 years.

Six months before the expiration date of the Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety, organizations and individuals producing and trading food must submit an application for re-issuance of the Certificate if they continue to produce and trade.

The procedure for renewing a food safety permit is similar to applying for the first time. Because after 3 years, the facilities of the establishment may no longer be guaranteed, the authorities will still conduct an appraisal like the new issuance process.

For all information regarding the application for food safety certification, please contact Vinasc Group Joint Stock Company for detailed advice.

4. Sanctions for violations of food safety regulations:

According to Clause 8, Article 1 of Decree 124/2021/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 115/2018/ND-CP on sanctioning of administrative violations in food safety as follows:

• A fine of 20,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND for the act of providing food services without a Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety or having a Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety but it has expired, except for cases not subject to the issuance of a Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety.
• A fine of 30,000,000 VND to 40,000,000 VND for the act of producing or trading food without a Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety or having a Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety but it has expired, except for cases not subject to the issuance of a Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety.
• A fine of 40,000,000 VND to 60,000,000 VND for one of the following acts:
  • Producing health food without a Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety meeting Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) or having a GMP certificate but it has expired, except for cases of producing health food on the production line of medicinal herbs, traditional medicine or other cases as prescribed by the Minister of Health;
  • Trading or circulating on the market health food products produced domestically or imported that have been granted a Certificate of Announcement of Conformity with food safety regulations or a Certificate of Receipt of Product Announcement Registration before July 1, 2019, without supplementing the GMP Certificate or equivalent certificate before production.
• Remedial measures: Forcing the recall of food for violations of the provisions in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article. Forcing to change the purpose of use or recycle or destroy food for violations of the provisions in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article.

In addition, according to Circular 10/VBHN-BYT regulating food safety inspection activities in food production and business under the management of the Ministry of Health, competent agencies will conduct planned and unscheduled inspections of establishments required to ensure food safety and hygiene. Specifically as follows: • Planned inspection The frequency of planned inspections is not more than 01 time a year. Before conducting the inspection, the inspection agency must notify the inspected establishment at least 01 day in advance, except for the inspected subjects being food business establishments not subject to business registration, street food vendors. • Unscheduled inspection: The inspection agency does not have to notify the food production and business establishment in advance of the inspection: food service business establishments, street food business. The competent authority for food safety inspection conducts unscheduled inspections in the following cases:

• When there are signs of violation of food safety, food safety incidents: peak inspection periods and food safety management requirements as directed by superiors;
• When there are warnings from domestic and foreign organizations and international organizations related to food safety;
• According to the feedback of organizations and individuals related to food safety.

*Summary Table of Required Documents

 

No.	Required documents	Implementer
		Customer (1)	Vinasc Group (2)	Vinasc Group handles on behalf of our client (3)
NEW ISSUANCE/REISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATE OF ELIGIBILITY FOR FOOD SAFETY BUSINESS
1	Application for Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety		X
2	Description of facilities, equipment, and tools ensuring food safety and hygiene conditions		X
3	Copy of Business Registration Certificate	X		X
4	Health certificate of the owner and the person directly involved in food production and business	X
5	Health certificate of the staff directly involved in food production and business	X
6	Certificate of food safety training for the person directly involved in food production	X
7	Certificate of food safety training for the person directly involved in food production and business	X
8	Facility layout plan and production and business area	X
9	Diagram of quality control procedures in food production and business at the facility	X

 

(*) According to the process, the customer is obligated to carry out the procedures in column (1) and Vinasc will be obligated to carry out the procedures in column (2).

(*) In some cases, if customers have difficulties in preparing documents, Vinasc can replace the documents in column (3). However, in this situation, we have to consider each specific case and the following issues will arise:

• Costs incurred for processing documents (these costs will vary depending on each state agency, the legal regulations in Vietnam at each stage are also different)
• Additional time incurred due to having to prepare these documents

(*) During the preparation time, customers scan all the above documents so that we can prepare the documents in a timely manner.

(*) In some special situations, state agencies may request additional information to supplement the application. Such as Tax Report…

For any information regarding the application for a Certificate of Eligibility for Food Safety Business, please contact Vinasc Group Joint Stock Company for detailed advice.