Vietnamese dragon fruit showcased at Fruit Logistica 2024 in Germany. — VNA/VNS Photo
The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG-SANTE), in collaboration with the Việt Nam Sanitary and Phytosanitary Notification Authority and Enquiry Point (Vietnam SPS), held a conference disseminating regulations on imports of agricultural products and foods of plant and animal origin into the EU market on Tuesday.
Recently, the EU has introduced a number of separate requirements for imported composite products. According to Sylvie Coulon, a senior expert at DG-SANTE, with this move, the regulation on the percentage of processed products of animal origin will no longer be valid. And the new one is stricter to better protect consumers.
To comply well with new requirements, Sylvie Coulon advised businesses to understand correctly what composite products are, adding they are foods that contain products of plant origin and processed products of animal origin.
At the conference, the DG-SANTE introduced in detail relevant regulations on hygiene and food safety for composite products and products of non-animal origin; rules of origin, as well as a residue monitoring plan on these products, along with quarantine measures based on international practices issued by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Lê Thanh Hòa, Director of Việt Nam SPS Office, said that although the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has been in effect for nearly four years, there remain shortcomings and difficulties, especially those related to food safety regulations as well as others on the environment and sustainable development.
Hòa showed his hope that the EU will continue to support the Việt Nam SPS Office to update information and regulations related to food safety to businesses when exporting products to the EU; and help strengthen the capacity of Việt Nam's food safety control system as well as animal and plant quarantine network.
In 2023, Việt Nam's agricultural, forestry and fishery export turnover to the European market reached about US$5.3 billion, making it Việt Nam's third largest market, after the US and China. — VNS