From january 1, 2025, all homemade foods must be labeled with nutritional information

DNHN - The Ministry of Health recommended in the draft guiding circular on nutrition labelling for food that food items produced by manual techniques be labelled by January 1, 2025.

The dietary recommendations draft indicates the nutritional composition content, which includes the seven requirements listed below: Energy; Protein; Carbohydrates; Fat; Fatty; Saturated; Sodium. According to the Ministry of Health, the aforementioned suggestion is based on CODEX application guidelines from 2011, and CODEX application standards are presently completely implemented in 70% of nations and territories.

Based on the present state of Vietnamese food consumption as well as the existing illness trend in Vietnam, According to research and surveys, people in Vietnam are more likely to eat food that has been made and processed by machines. This has a significant influence on Vietnamese people's dietary intake and health.

At the same time, in recent years, Vietnam's illness pattern has tended to quickly increase in noncommunicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and obesity... One of the primary causes of this illness is a nutritional imbalance of various kinds.

Derived from the current practice of food nutrition labelling in Vietnam, where total energy accounts for 100% of the product, fat, protein accounts for 89.5 per cent, carbohydrate content accounts for 86.6 per cent, and salt content accounts for 21.1 per cent, and sugar accounts for 23.7 per cent.

Nutritional components, nutritional value, and how to write them concerning the recording of nutritional components and nutritional values: To ensure uniform guidance on how to label food nutrition, the draft circular proposes specific regulations on how to display each nutritional ingredient.

Together with the draft Circular and reference value guidance, they issue an appendix of guidelines on how to present nutritional information on food labels.

According to the draft, energy quantities should be given in kilocalories (kcal) or kilojoules (kJ). Protein, carbohydrates, total sugar, fat, and saturated fat content must be expressed in grams (g); sodium content must be expressed in milligrams (mg) per 100 g or 100 ml of food and expressed as a percentage (per cent) of the reference nutritional value according to the guidelines in Annex I of the draft.

Draft Appendix II says that the nutritional value of these and other nutritious elements should be given in numbers with full information. Ingredient and nutritional value information on food product labels must be comprehensible, readable, identifiable, and connected to the product's container and cannot be erased.

Roadmap for Nutrition Labeling ImplementationRegarding the implementation roadmap: To guarantee practicality, provide companies with time to study and develop their technical bases, equipment, employees, and technology for the implementation of registration laws.

The draft circular suggests the following implementation plan for nutrition labels: Rules say that food made, imported, traded, and circulated in Vietnam must be marked with food nutrition by January 1, 2024. By January 1, 2025, food goods made by hand must meet food labelling rules.

PV