More than 97 per cent of test samples of agriculture, forestry and fishery products in 2023 met food safety and hygiene requirements, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The rate of production and trade establishments meeting food safety and hygiene standards stood at 99.2 per cent.

MARD’s Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development took many measures last year to tighten management over agricultural product quality to meet market demand, focusing on implementing a Party directive on enhancing food safety and security and a master plan on ensuring food safety and hygiene and improving the quality of agricultural and fishery products in the 2021-2030 period.

The department also paid attention to implementing the master plan on building agricultural and forestry material zones for domestic consumption and exports in the 2022-2025 period.

It enhanced inspections and supervision at production and trade establishments to ensure food safety and hygiene requirements were met.

Vietnam has built 2,510 supply chains of safe agricultural, forestry and fishery products, with the participation of over 300 enterprises and 150 cooperatives.

An additional 38 seafood processing establishments were licensed in 2023 to export to South Korea and 13 others now export to the EU. Many seafood packaging facilities were licensed to export to China, the US, and Russia.

Some farm produce was permitted for official export to the US and China for the first time last year, including durian, bird’s nest products, and grapefruit.

Vietnam earned $53.01 billion from the export of agriculture, forestry and fishery products in 2023, and the sector posted a record trade surplus of $12.07 billion.