Among all food categories consumed throughout the year, Vietnamese people spend the most on bread and cereal products, with 16.5 billion USD annually (2024 figure), followed by vegetables at 12.1 billion, fish and seafood at 12.1 billion…
According to recent consumption statistics, Vietnamese people are often thought to eat more meat than fish, shrimp, and seafood, particularly with a taste and habit for consuming a lot of pork.
However, according to a new survey informed on January 9 during a meeting to contribute ideas for the amended Food Safety Law, Vietnamese people spend the most on bread and cereals; vegetables; fish and seafood.
This is followed by meat at 11.1 billion USD; dairy and egg products at 8.5 billion USD; fruits and nuts at 8.5 billion; confectionery and snacks at 5.5 billion; spreads and sweeteners at 5.1 billion;
Convenience and processed foods at 3.3 billion; sauces and condiments at 2.9 billion; baby food at 2.5 billion; oils and fats at 1.4 billion… Notably, according to incomplete statistics, the pet food market is also vast, worth hundreds of millions of USD.
Furthermore, the beverage market is projected to reach over 900 million USD in 2025, with an annual growth rate of 8.63% for the 2025-2030 period, expected to hit 1.36 billion USD by 2030.
Regarding bottled and natural drinking water, there are over 40,000 production facilities nationwide, 100% of which have been granted certificates of food safety eligibility and have self-declared their products. However, currently 2-5% of bottled water samples do not meet standards, being contaminated with E.coli, Coliforms, Staphylococcus aureus…
Additionally, due to the lengthy testing period of 7-10 days, there are cases where by the time test results are available, the non-compliant water samples have already been fully consumed.
In the health protection product sector (commonly known as functional foods), the current market size is 2.75 billion USD, with average spending of 27.1 USD per person per year. The projected growth is 5.4%, higher than the world average (2%), indicating significant remaining potential for units with quality products operating in compliance with the law.
It is also assessed that after strong fluctuations in the 2021-2025 period, this market will recover and stabilize from 2026.
A major focus of this conference was the direction to amend shortcomings in current food safety control regulations. “The amended Food Safety Law will dedicate a separate chapter to regulations on street food and mobile vending.
This will be an important chapter, as there have been many food poisoning incidents related to street food recently. Therefore, regulations are needed for vendors to comply with, and defining the role of commune/ward authorities in management.”
The business of food and health protection products on e-commerce platforms is also seen as needing regulations to address shortcomings, with the two most common issues being trading unlicensed products and counterfeit goods.
According to the Food Safety Department, the current Food Safety Law was enacted in 2010. At that time, awareness of functional foods in Vietnam and the world was incomplete. Production facilities for high-risk food groups such as medical nutrition foods, foods for special dietary uses, nutritional products for children up to 36 months old… were not required to apply necessary certifications like GMP, HACCP, ISO… or international standards for production facilities.
What key issues does the amended law aim to address?
The current law also “fragments” the sector, with one meal falling under multiple management ministries but lacking regulations for coordination or participation in combating counterfeit goods, leading to inconsistent management.
Notably, current regulations lack a mechanism for state agencies to revoke issued certificates or temporarily suspend public services for violating establishments. In reality, situations of producing and trading large quantities of fake, low-quality food still persist (such as the fake milk, fake functional food… cases discovered in 2025).
The Food Safety Department believes policy solutions
