Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has asked the management on advertising for food supplements to be tightened to keep them on-track as the market grows. — Photo thesaigontimes.vn

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has asked for tighter controls on advertising food supplements to prevent misunderstandings from distorted ads and keep up with market developments.

The Ministry of Health and relevant ministries must improve the legal framework and develop comprehensive solutions to effectively manage the advertising for these kind of foods and report back to the PM by July 15.

In early June, the Việt Nam Association of Functional Foods sent a document to the Government to propose a tightening of management of this food sector.

The association said that in 2000, there were just around a dozen food supplements in Việt Nam, mainly imported. However, the numbers have soared with tens of thousands of new products now registered every year.

The association quoted numbers from the Việt Nam Food Administration which reported that more than a hundred facilities were found to violate regulations on functional foods advertising between 2020-22 and were fined a combined total of nearly VNĐ5 billion (US$196,500).

The association said that up to 80 per cent of advertisements of products that support disease prevention and treatment on the Internet, social networks and e-commerce platforms, were misleading. — VNS