Over the past 20 years, Vietnam has developed into one of the major food processors and exporters in the global market. However, product safety and quality control has become a major concern to the Vietnamese authorities. With increasing awareness and consumers’ expectations of health and food hygiene issues, the low performance in meeting the requirements of food safety principles and standards are seen as major obstacles for further growth of the food industry, especially when it comes to exporting agricultural products.
This distinct private sector partnership (PSP) project organized by DEG, TÜV Rheinland and ASSIST, aimed to create a broad impact on Agro and Dairy food safety and hygiene awareness throughout Vietnam’s entire supply chain. Awareness campaigns, forums, trainings and certification programs were designed to build local capability. Dialogue sessions were conducted with the aim of reviewing the gaps and making changes to support small and medium enterprises in agro – dairy producing industries in adopting best international practices for safety and quality. e-learning kits and self-audit guides were also built to help the target industries strengthen their quality control activities and to sustain the project in the long term.
Targeting Vietnam’s agricultural and dairy supply chain, this DEG-supported project features awareness campaigns as well as training and certification programs – all of which were designed to build local capability and create a multiplier effect. Dialogue sessions with policymakers and representatives of different stakeholder groups were conducted to assess the gaps and propose changes to support the agro-dairy SMEs in adopting international safety and quality standards.
