Agro-processing, food safety, cooperatives and contract farming: the Food Safety Law and Decree 15/2018 after the suspension of Decree 46/2026, food safety certificates, self-declaration and registration of products, labelling under Decree 37/2026, traceability, export certification, the Law on Cooperatives 2023, linkage support under Decree 98/2018 and contract-farming agreements that can be enforced

The food safety rules in force at 16 October 2026

The statute is Law No. 55/2010/QH12 on Food Safety, in force since 1 July 2011, and its principal implementing instrument is Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP of 2 February 2018, which governs product declaration and registration, food safety certificates, import and export inspection, labelling, traceability and the allocation of responsibilities between ministries. On 26 January 2026 the Government issued Decree No. 46/2026/ND-CP to replace it, but Resolution No. 09/2026/NQ-CP of 4 February 2026 suspended the new decree, and Resolution No. 15/2026/NQ-CP of 6 April 2026 extended the suspension until an amended Food Safety Law and its implementing decree take effect. Under Articles 2 and 4 of that resolution, Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP and its implementing documents continue to apply, including to dossiers filed before 6 April 2026. Forms and checklists written for Decree No. 46/2026/ND-CP should therefore not be used.

One product and one establishment answer to one authority (Article 36 of Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP). The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE), which took over the former agriculture ministry's functions on 1 March 2025, manages primary production and the Annex III products: cereals, meat, fishery products, fresh and processed vegetables and fruit, eggs, raw milk, honey, salt, spices, tea, coffee, cocoa and pepper. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) manages the Annex IV products, including beer, wine and spirits, soft drinks and fruit juices, processed milk, vegetable oils, flour and starch products and confectionery. The Ministry of Health (MOH) manages bottled water, functional foods, additives, food-contact packaging and anything not listed elsewhere. A fruit processor straddles the line: dried or frozen fruit is an MAE product, but jams, candies and soft drinks made from fruit are MOIT products. A plant making products in several lists answers to the authority for its largest-output product (Article 36(8)). The regulators are described in Agricultural legal framework and regulators.

Food safety certificates for processing plants

A food production or trading establishment must hold a food safety certificate before operating (Article 11 of Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP) unless Article 12(1) exempts it. The exemptions cover small-scale primary production, preliminary processing and trading, trading in pre-packaged food, street food and similar activities, and any establishment holding a valid GMP, HACCP, ISO 22000, IFS, BRC or FSSC 22000 certificate or an equivalent. Most foreign processors rely on the last exemption, but it relieves them only of the certificate: they must still meet the food safety conditions (Article 12(2)) and remain subject to inspection under MAE's Circular No. 38/2018/TT-BNNPTNT as amended.

The dossier comprises an application, the enterprise registration certificate, a description of premises and equipment, and evidence of staff health and food safety training (Article 36(1) of the Law). The authority must inspect within 15 days of a complete dossier and issue the certificate if the conditions are met, or give written reasons for refusal (Article 36(2)). For MAE products an appraisal team examines premises, equipment, staff, the food safety programme, traceability, recall and labelling, and since 1 July 2025 the competent authority is the provincial agency designated by the chairperson of the provincial People's Committee (Article 5 of the circular, as amended by Circular No. 17/2025/TT-BNNMT). The certificate is valid for three years and renewal must be sought six months before expiry (Article 37 of the Law); a new certification is also needed if production stops for more than 12 months, the legal representative changes or the plant is upgraded, expanded or relocated (Article 6 of the circular).

Putting products on the market: self-declaration, registration and imported inputs

Pre-packaged processed food, additives, processing aids and food-contact packaging are self-declared (Article 4 of Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP), except products made or imported solely for export or internal production. The dossier is the declaration form and a test report from a designated or ISO 17025 laboratory issued within the previous 12 months. The declaration is published in the media, online or at the head office, a copy goes to the agency designated by the province, and the product may be sold immediately, at the declarant's own responsibility (Article 5). Documents must be in Vietnamese, and a change of name, origin or composition requires a new declaration.

Registration is required for health supplements, medical and special dietary foods, nutrition products for children up to 36 months, and new or unlisted additives (Article 6). Health supplements and new or unlisted additives go to MOH, the others to the provincial agency, and the receipt must issue within 21 working days for health supplements and 7 working days for the rest (Article 8).

Imported ingredients face State food safety inspection unless exempt; raw materials imported solely to make export goods are exempt (Article 13(7)). Otherwise the designated inspection body applies reduced inspection (random document checks of no more than 5% of consignments a year, available for products of GMP, HACCP, ISO 22000, IFS, BRC or FSSC 22000 plants), normal inspection (a document check) or tightened inspection (documents plus sampling) (Articles 16 and 17). Animal, fishery and plant products must come from listed countries and, for animal and fishery products, from recognised establishments (Article 14). See Customs and import duties.

Labelling and traceability

Labels are governed by the Law on Product and Goods Quality as amended by Law No. 78/2025/QH15 (in force from 1 January 2026) and by Decree No. 37/2026/ND-CP of 23 January 2026, effective on signing, which repealed Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP and Decree No. 111/2021/ND-CP (Article 97). Every label must show, in Vietnamese, the name of the goods, the name and address of the responsible organisation and the origin (Article 42(1)); for food, Appendix I adds the quantity, date of manufacture, expiry or best-before date, ingredients, nutrition information where given, warnings and instructions for use and storage. Health supplements, irradiated food and food with a genetically modified ingredient above 5% carry prescribed statements. Imported goods need an original label at customs and a Vietnamese sub-label before sale (Article 42(2)). Low-risk goods may show mandatory content through an electronic label (QR code, barcode, RFID or NFC), but medium- and high-risk goods must keep the name, responsible organisation, origin and warnings on the physical label (Article 53). Labels and packaging printed under the old decrees may be used for no more than two years from 23 January 2026 (Article 98).

Every food business must keep supplier, customer, quantity and lot records and trace unsafe products (Article 54 of the Food Safety Law; Articles 34 and 35 of Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP), and for MAE products Circular No. 17/2021/TT-BNNPTNT governs traceability and recall. Law No. 78/2025/QH15 makes traceability mandatory for high-risk products (Article 6d), and under Article 22 of Decree No. 37/2026/ND-CP each ministry lists the high-risk products and sets a roadmap; businesses concerned must share data with the National Product Traceability Portal (Article 26). For produce bought from many farms, lot records linked to growing-area codes are the practical tool (Horticulture: fruit, vegetables and flowers).

Export certification and registration abroad

Vietnam certifies exported food where the importing country requires it: each ministry designates the inspecting authority for its products, and MAE handles mixed consignments (Article 23 of Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP). Ministries issue certificates of free sale, and MOH also issues health certificates (Articles 37 to 39). Exported fishery products are certified under MAE's Circular No. 80/2025/TT-BNNMT, in force from 2 February 2026 (Livestock, aquaculture and animal health). Registration of the plant abroad is a separate step: for China, GACC Decree No. 280 has applied since 1 June 2026, and categories such as dried fruit and nuts need a recommendation by the Vietnamese competent authority. Market-by-market rules are in the horticulture section and in Rice, coffee and key commodity exports.

Cooperatives as partners, and foreign membership

Smallholder supply is usually organised through cooperatives under Law No. 17/2023/QH15 on Cooperatives, in force since 1 July 2024. A cooperative is a legal entity of at least five official members (Article 4(7)). Official members contribute capital and use its services or contribute labour, while associate capital-contributing members only contribute capital (Article 4(17) and (18)). As a registered economic organisation a cooperative is a trader when it contracts with a processor, and it may obtain preferential credit and support from the Cooperative Development Support Fund (Article 23).

Official and associate capital-contributing members may include Vietnamese citizens, foreign individual investors holding an Investment Registration Certificate and Vietnamese legal entities, which include foreign-invested companies (Article 30(1)). Foreign members must meet the market access and defence and security conditions of the investment laws (Article 30(5)), and foreign-invested companies and foreign individual investors together must be fewer than 35% of official members (Article 30(7)). No official member may contribute more than 30% of charter capital, associate capital-contributing members together are capped at 30%, and capital must be paid within six months (Article 74). A foreign investor therefore cannot control a cooperative: it contracts with it as a supplier and, to fund shared equipment, takes an associate membership or leases the equipment (Market access).

Linkages in production and consumption under Decree No. 98/2018/ND-CP

Decree No. 98/2018/ND-CP of 5 July 2018 sets the policy for linking production with consumption of agricultural products and applies alike to farmers, cooperatives and enterprises, foreign-invested or not (Article 2). Article 4 lists seven forms of linkage, from the full chain of inputs, production, processing and sale to narrower combinations. A linkage contract is signed voluntarily between the parties (Article 5); an enterprise or cooperative contracting directly with farmers is the lead of the linkage and prepares any linkage project (Article 6).

The State budget may fund 100% of consultancy costs up to VND 300 million (Article 7), 30% of investment in machinery, equipment and infrastructure such as warehouses and processing workshops up to VND 10 billion (Article 8), and training, inputs, packaging and labels for up to three crops, plus up to 40% of technology transfer costs (Article 9). To qualify, the linkage must fit local planning, the parties must hold or commit to food safety, disease and environmental standards, the contract must last at least five years for products with a cycle of one year or more and three years otherwise, and the project or plan must be approved first (Article 11). The provincial agriculture department appraises the dossier within 15 working days and the provincial People's Committee decides within 10 working days (Article 12); the decree's references to district approval need confirming with the provincial Department of Agriculture and Environment since districts were abolished on 1 July 2025. Support depends on provincial budgets, so it is not an entitlement. Other incentives are in Investment incentives and high-tech agriculture.

Contract-farming agreements and the processing investment

The contract is governed by the Civil Code and, between traders, the Commercial Law (Commercial contracts in Vietnam). With a cooperative, a penalty is enforceable only if agreed and is capped at 8% of the breached obligation (Article 301 of the Commercial Law), and where a penalty is agreed the injured party may claim both the penalty and damages (Article 307). With an unregistered farmer the contract may be civil, where the agreed penalty applies (Article 418 of the Civil Code); because the characterisation is unsettled, penalties are best kept within 8%. The contract should identify the parcels and any growing-area code, the quantity, quality grades and residue testing, input advances and their deduction, the production protocol, a price formula (often a floor plus a market reference) paid in dong, force majeure and dispute resolution.

Side-selling to traders offering higher spot prices is the main risk. Article 15 of Decree No. 98/2018/ND-CP lists compelled performance, penalties, suspension, termination and compensation as remedies, and a party breaching a State-supported linkage loses the support and is barred from it for five years. Disputes go to negotiation and mediation and then arbitration or court (Commercial arbitration and VIAC), but suing many smallholders is impractical, so prompt payment, market-linked prices, a forfeitable loyalty bonus and a cooperative's guarantee do more work. A foreign-invested processor cannot buy farmers' agricultural land (Agricultural land and land accumulation). Processing is an incentivised activity (FAQ 34), equipment may be imported duty-free (FAQ 37), and a foreign-invested processor that also imports or distributes food needs a trading licence, governed from 18 October 2026 by Decree No. 342/2026/ND-CP (FAQ 95).