Food safety management in a modern urban area

Dong Nai is entering a new stage of development with an expanded urban area and a population of nearly 5 million. Therefore, ensuring food safety cannot stop at inspecting and penalizing individual violators; it must be integrated into the broader framework of urban planning, infrastructure and governance.

Dong Nai’s new development space is driving growing demand for food. With 95 commune-level administrative units, the city is simultaneously developing industry, agriculture, urban areas, logistics, aviation and other sectors. Alongside this growth, its network of markets, supermarkets, restaurants, collective kitchens, food-processing facilities, cold-storage warehouses, and food transportation and delivery services is becoming increasingly diverse.

Prioritizing food safety

The city currently has more than 35,300 food production and trading establishments, food service businesses and street-food vendors (collectively referred to as establishments). In 2025, city authorities inspected and conducted post-inspections at more than 16,300 establishments, detecting violations at more than 2,100. The risk of violations of food safety regulations remains, as authorities inspected and conducted post-inspections at more than 3,700 establishments during the first eight months of 2026, detecting violations at 745.

Medical staff at the city’s Testing Center inspect food samples. Photo: Hanh Dung

In addition to imposing administrative penalties, authorities initiated legal proceedings and investigated two cases involving five defendants for violations of food safety regulations under Article 317 of the Penal Code. One establishment was also suspended from operation for two months.

These figures highlight new requirements for food safety management. Food safety must be viewed as an integral component of urban quality. Article 29 of the Urban Development Law, which takes effect on October 1, 2026, sets out mechanisms and policies to ensure food safety in cities. Under Article 29, the City People’s Council is responsible for establishing mechanisms and policies for incentives, support, investment and resources to ensure food safety; and for developing shared infrastructure and database systems for food and food safety management within the city and special urban areas.

The City People’s Committee has the authority to prescribe measures and procedures for monitoring and rapid response to prevent, contain and address food safety incidents. It may also issue regulations on the supply and provision of information concerning food ingredients and food products within the city and those brought into the city, as well as organize and operate a food safety inspection system based on risk management and control throughout the supply chain.

At a recent meeting of the City Inter-sectoral Steering Committee on Food Safety, Member of the City Party Committee’s Standing Board, Vice Chairman of the City People’s Committee Le Truong Son called on committee members to raise their sense of responsibility and learn from the food safety management experience of cities that have performed well in this area. Food safety management across the city must closely follow the Urban Development Law and be implemented in a coordinated manner, with participation from multiple sectors and administrative levels. Priority should be given to prevention and risk control, while strengthening inspections, surprise post-inspections, and strict action against violations, particularly at collective kitchens in businesses and full-day school kitchens, from urban areas to the border and remote and isolated areas of the city.

Alongside inspections, city leaders have asked relevant departments and agencies and local authorities to develop and replicate models for safe food production and trading, build transparent supply chains, and enhance the responsibility of grassroots authorities. The ultimate goal is to protect the health and lives of residents.

Managing the supply chain

A meat product passes through numerous stages before reaching the dining table, from livestock farming and slaughtering to preliminary processing, transportation, storage, distribution and finally the point of sale or a kitchen. If even one link in this chain is inadequately controlled, food safety risks and food poisoning can occur.

Medical staff at the city’s Testing Center inspect food samples. Photo: Hanh Dung

Therefore, alongside inspections of restaurants, markets and business establishments, authorities need to strengthen management from production areas and slaughterhouses to wholesale markets, cold-storage facilities and distribution networks. This requirement is becoming increasingly important as the city develops its logistics sector, with Long Thanh International Airport identified as a key driver in the formation of new service, logistics and urban ecosystems.

The city is currently maintaining 35 food safety pilot models at establishments providing prepared meals, collective kitchens in businesses and school kitchens. These models play a practical role in protecting the health of workers and students, who are served more than 115,000 meals each day.

To improve the effectiveness of food safety management, Dong Nai has proposed that the Government soon amend the Law on Food Safety to assign management responsibility to a single focal agency, with a unified system from the central to the commune and ward levels, while ensuring adequate resources for law enforcement. The city has also proposed that ministries and sectors develop a unified food safety database and management software system with seamless connectivity from the central level to grassroots authorities.

Van Thanh Binh, Deputy Director of the Department of Health and Standing Deputy Head of the City Inter-sectoral Steering Committee on Food Safety, said that alongside inspections and post-inspections, it is necessary to continue strengthening the professional capacity of food safety personnel, particularly at the commune and ward levels; increase sampling, monitoring and testing; strengthen control of establishments at high risk of food safety violations; and maintain existing food safety pilot models.

Food safety management should not only be tightened at the city level; grassroots authorities also need to proactively exercise their management roles and responsibilities. Tran Hung, Vice Chairman of the Trang Dai Ward People’s Committee, said the ward has a large population and very high demand for food production, trading and consumption. Therefore, the locality has determined that management of food production and trading establishments, food services and street-food vendors must be closely linked to territorial management, public communications and regular inspections. The ward has been, and will continue to, closely monitor its area, review establishments under its management, and raise awareness among food businesses of their responsibility to comply with the law. At the same time, it will take strict action against establishments that continue to reoffend after having been warned.

By Hanh Dung – Translated by Mai Nga, Minho