Vietnamese instant noodles have relaxed export regulations to the EU

From June 27, instant noodles exported from Vietnam to the European Union (EU) market will no longer be required to be accompanied by a food safety certificate issued by a competent Vietnamese authority.

The Vietnam Trade Office in Belgium said that on June 7, the EU published Regulation 2023/1110 signed on June 6, 2023 amending Regulation 2019/1973 on emergency measures to control food exports to the EU. Accordingly, the EU has officially moved Vietnamese instant noodles from Appendix II (control by food safety certificates and control at border gates) to Appendix I with a border inspection frequency of 20%.

The above regulation takes effect 20 days after the date of publication in the Official Gazette. Thus, from June 27, 2023, instant noodle products exported from Vietnam will not be required to be accompanied by a food safety inspection certificate issued by a competent authority of Vietnam.

Also in this Regulation, bell peppers from Vietnam are still in Appendix I with a 50% inspection frequency at the border gate; Okra and dragon fruit are still in Appendix II with a 50% and 20% inspection frequency respectively. This means that agricultural products have not changed compared to the regulations of 6 months ago.

Vietnamese instant noodle exporting enterprises must continuously control food safety well.

The EU passed an emergency control regulation on Vietnamese vermicelli, rice noodles (effective from January 1, 2022). After 6 months, Vietnam successfully convinced the EU to remove vermicelli, rice noodles, and rice products from the food safety management list. 18 months later, Vietnam also successfully convinced the EU to remove instant noodles from Appendix II (control by certificate and at the border gate) to Appendix I (control at the border gate). This demonstrates the great and timely efforts of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in food safety control as well as actively supporting businesses in solving difficulties.

“The EU still maintains control at the border gate with a frequency of 20%, requiring Vietnam to always maintain good food safety control for instant noodles. If in the last 6 months of 2023, Vietnamese instant noodles exported to the EU have many violations of food safety regulations, the next step for the EU will be to increase supervision to 50% at the border gate and then return to Appendix II. If Vietnamese instant noodles are returned to Appendix II (as in the case of Thanh Long), the process of convincing the EU to return to Appendix I will be much more difficult,” the representative of the Vietnam Trade Office in Belgium warned.

On this occasion, the Trade Office also requested that Vietnamese instant noodle exporting enterprises must continuously control food safety, and even consider applying voluntary measures such as self-testing at reputable laboratories for instant noodle shipments exported to the EU.

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