Food labeling

All food sold in Vietnam must carry a Vietnamese-language label. The rules sit in two layers: • General framework — Decree 43/2017/NĐ-CP on the labelling of goods. Mandatory Vietnamese language, required commercial information (name, origin, manufacturer/importer, content), date conventions, and rules for supplementary languages and supplementary labels on imported products. • Food-specific — Article-by-article rules in the Food Safety Law and Decree 15/2018/NĐ-CP setting out the items that must appear on a food label (or in the leaflet for products where the package is too small). Mandatory label items for prepackaged food: • Product name and trade designation. • Quantitative ingredient list, with food additives identified by function and INS number where applicable. • Net content / drained weight. • Date of manufacture and date of minimum durability (best-before / expiry). • Storage conditions and conditions of use. • Name and address of the producer; for imported products, name and address of the importer responsible for the product in Vietnam. • Country of origin. • Lot or batch identification. • Self-declaration or registration-declaration number where applicable. • Other product-specific items required by the applicable QCVN. Allergens: known major allergens (egg, milk, peanut, soy, gluten-containing cereals, fish, shellfish, tree nuts and others identified in Vietnamese standards) must be declared in the ingredient statement. GMO foods: foods containing genetically modified ingredients above specified thresholds must be labelled accordingly; the labelling regime for GMO food and feed runs under joint MARD/MOH guidance. Imported foods: a supplementary label (nhãn phụ) in Vietnamese must be attached before retail distribution; it must reproduce all mandatory content from the original label in Vietnamese.

Core labelling framework: • Decree 43/2017/NĐ-CP — issued 14 April 2017. Mandatory content for labels of goods sold in Vietnam, Vietnamese-language requirement, supplementary-label rules for imported products, date and origin conventions. Amended on technical details by subsequent decrees. Food-specific: • Law on Food Safety 55/2010/QH12 — Articles on food labelling and consumer information. • Decree 15/2018/NĐ-CP — declaration dossier evidences the label content; inconsistencies between declared label and on-shelf label trigger enforcement. • Applicable QCVN for the product category — may add product-specific mandatory items. Specialised areas: • Joint MARD/MOH guidance on GMO labelling. • Sector circulars from MARD and MOIT for labelling of products under their scope (see Specialized Management). Reference: • Codex Alimentarius — General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods (CXS 1-1985, as revised).

2024–2025 — Enforcement focus on online listings: VFA, Market Surveillance, and provincial Departments of Health continue to treat e-commerce product listings and livestream sales descriptions as labels for enforcement purposes; mandatory content must appear in the listing. 2022 — Joint MOH/MOIT guidance: A joint reminder reaffirmed that the supplementary-language and origin-marking rules in Decree 43/2017 apply alongside sector-specific labelling rules in the Food Safety framework. Standing — Allergen and GMO declaration: Allergen declarations in the ingredient statement are increasingly enforced at retail inspection. GMO labelling thresholds and the list of controlled GM events are issued by MARD; verify against the current text before formulating labels.