[NEWS] - EU relaxes regulations on instant noodles imported from Vietnam

From June 27, instant noodles exported from Vietnam to the EU market will not be required to be accompanied by a certificate of food safety inspection issued by a competent Vietnamese authority.

According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Brussels, on June 7, the European Union (EU) published a notice amending the Regulation 2019/1973 on urgent measures to control food exports to the EU market. Accordingly, the EU market has officially brought our country’s instant noodles from Appendix II (controlled by food safety certificates and border control) to Appendix I is 20%.

Also in this regulation, bell peppers from Vietnam are still in Appendix I with an inspection frequency of about 50% at the border gate. Okra and dragon fruit remain in Appendix II with the same inspection frequency of 50% and 20%. This also means that agricultural commodities are unchanged from the regulation 6 months ago.

With its many efforts, in just 6 months when the EU approved the emergency control regulations for Vietnamese vermicelli, noodles, and vermicelli (effective from January 1, 2022), the Vietnam Trade Office in Belgium and the EU have successfully persuaded the EU to remove vermicelli, and other rice-based products from the list of food safety management, and 18 months later, they have successfully removed instant noodles from Appendix II (controller). certificate as well as at the border gate) to Appendix I (control at border gate).

This also demonstrates the great and timely efforts of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in controlling food safety as well as actively supporting businesses to solve difficulties.

According to Vietnam’s Trade Counselor in the EU and Belgium, Tran Ngoc Quan, the fact that the EU still maintains control at the border gate with a frequency of 20% requires Vietnam to always maintain food safety control with instant noodles.

If within the last 6 months of 2023, our country’s instant noodles exported to the EU have many cases of food safety regulations, the next EU roadmap will increase supervision to 50% at the border and return to Appendix II.

This obliges Vietnamese instant noodle exporters to strictly comply with EU regulations, and continuously control food safety well, including reviewing and applying automatic measures. Volunteers such as self-testing reputable laboratories with instant noodle shipments exported to the EU market.

Korea is one of the famous countries in the production of instant noodles. However, for many years, the EU has not been successfully persuaded to remove quality supervision and is currently still in Appendix I with a 20% inspection frequency like Vietnam.

Hoang Yen (Collection source)