Tighten control over dietary supplements.

Dietary supplements directly impact public health, therefore strict management measures are needed to protect consumers from safety and quality risks.

Handling violations

Over the past period, the Ministry of Health has implemented and directed localities to conduct inspections, checks, and post-inspections of establishments producing and trading health food products. The agency has handled 126 violations, with a total fine of over 16.8 billion VND. Local authorities have inspected 941,836 establishments, of which 85,551 were found to be in violation, resulting in fines for 20,881 establishments, totaling over 123 billion VND.

The main violations include: producing counterfeit functional foods; importing counterfeit or substandard functional foods into Vietnam, then repackaging and labeling them before distributing them; producing functional foods containing banned substances; falsely advertising functional foods to mislead consumers; using images, equipment, uniforms, names, letters from medical units, facilities, doctors, pharmacists, medical staff, thank-you letters from patients, articles by doctors, pharmacists, and medical staff to advertise functional foods...

Acknowledging the limitations and shortcomings in the current management of functional foods, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan stated that managing the advertising of functional foods faces many difficulties due to the development of online advertising and telephone sales consultations. The shift from pre-approval to post-approval management facilitates businesses in self-declaring their functional food products and producing and selling them immediately after self-declaration. However, some businesses have taken advantage of this mechanism to violate regulations, and some organizations and individuals, for profit, disregard the law and the health and lives of the community.

Legal completion

To effectively manage functional foods, experts believe the prerequisite is to build and perfect the legal system. This requires detailed regulations on the definition, quality standards, ingredients, production guidelines, and marketing of these products. The regulations must clearly distinguish between functional foods and medicines to avoid confusion, which could lead to misuse or abuse.

In addition, there must be a mechanism to check the quality of products before they are sold on the market; requiring manufacturers of functional foods to provide complete information about ingredients, usage instructions, and side effects on product packaging. The marketing of functional foods needs to be closely monitored to avoid misleading information about the product's effects.

In particular, there must be strict penalties for violations such as producing, distributing, and marketing products of unknown origin, substandard quality, or providing misleading information about their uses.

A key solution for effective management of functional foods is the application of information technology to monitoring and inspection; using management software and database systems to track the origin, quality, and status of each product batch helps improve management efficiency. Technology can also help monitor the enforcement of regulations related to the marketing and advertising of functional foods.

Furthermore, raising consumer awareness about the safety of using dietary supplements is also crucial. Authorities should regularly organize awareness programs on how to select, use, and store dietary supplements effectively and safely.

Managing functional foods requires close coordination among regulatory agencies, manufacturers, and consumers. With clear legal measures, product quality control, marketing oversight, public education , and strict penalties, we can minimize the risks associated with the use of functional foods and effectively protect public health.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/siet-quan-ly-thuc-pham-chuc-nang-d232713.html