Early risk identification: Managing food safety from the source

Food safety remains a matter of significant public concern. Proactively preventing and controlling hazards from production to consumption is an urgent requirement. To provide modern, accurate, and effective scientific evidence, conducting chemical and microbiological risk assessments is considered the most effective and feasible approach for identifying food safety hazards and supporting risk-based food safety management.

However, Food Safety Risk Assessment (FSRA) in Viet Nam still faces numerous limitations due to fragmented, non-standardized, and inefficiently shared data systems, despite the availability of extensive data from laboratories and monitoring programs. Most of this data is rarely digitized or shared among ministries, sectors, and localities, thereby reducing its usability for evidence-based policymaking.

Data standardization for Food Safety Management Systems

According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Cao Son, Deputy Director of the National Institute for Food Control (NIFC), the establishment of the Vietnam Food Safety Risk Assessment Center (VFSA) under NIFC in July 2024 marks a significant organizational milestone toward a scientific approach aligned with international standards. In this effort, scientists are developing a digital transformation model for Food Safety Risk Assessment (FSRA) data management in Viet Nam.

The study employs a qualitative comparative design and applies the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework to analyze barriers and drivers, while benchmarking the Vietnamese context against international best practices. Additionally, experts have examined models from the WHO/FAO, the European Union, the United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and have conducted interviews with specialists in New Zealand.

“On this basis, we have proposed a standardized data framework for FSRA, designed a digital platform tailored to Vietnam's institutional context, and developed a pilot implementation plan at NIFC, initially focusing on integrating food safety data within the health sector. These recommendations lay the foundation for enhancing data availability, quality, management, and usability for timely and transparent risk assessment in Vietnam,” stated Assoc. Prof. Dr. Son.

Meanwhile, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Dinh, an expert from the Safe Food for Growth (SAFEGRO) project, stated that international guidelines, particularly those of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, emphasize the integration of risk analysis principles throughout the food safety management system. However, in many low- and middle-income countries, including Viet Nam, management systems still primarily rely on end-product testing and compliance inspections. These methods require significant resources yet offer limited preventive effectiveness and fail to respond promptly to emerging risks.

A risk-based inspection and control system includes: structured risk assessment, classification of production and business establishments by risk level, focused inspection planning, and decision-making based on scientific data.

By aligning management with risk profiles, countries can optimize resources, enhance business compliance, and sustainably improve consumer protection. At the same time, this increases transparency and predictability - crucial factors for meeting international market requirements and integrating into global food value chains.

Application of risk assessment in food safety management

Drawing on experiences from ILRI, Dr. Dang Xuan Sinh stated that the risk-based approach is a vital foundation for developing specific interventions tailored to traditional food production chains in Vietnam and across the region. The cornerstone of this approach is a decade-long process in which ILRI has collaborated to build and transfer capacity in Quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment to regulatory agencies and the research community.

Key studies include assessing the risk of Salmonella contamination in traditional pork value chains in Vietnam and Cambodia, and incorporating Southeast Asian consumption habits, food preparation practices, and unique consumption patterns into risk assessment models.

Regarding food consumption issues, Dr. Pavel Zalmanovich Shur from the Federal Scientific Center for Medical and Preventive Health Risk Management Technologies (FBSI), stated that mathematical methods play a pivotal role in analyzing the relationship between exposure and response.

The application of mathematical modeling helps determine parameters such as the Acceptable Daily Intake, supports semi-quantitative risk assessment, and informs the establishment of hygiene standards. For carcinogenic risk assessment, cancer potency factors are typically calculated using linearized models, whereas non-carcinogenic risk assessments often employ logistic regression to estimate the probability of adverse health effects.

"According to the guidelines of the Eurasian Economic Commission, hygiene standards must be verified based on both carcinogenic risks and the predicted risk of non-carcinogenic effects throughout the life cycle. Additionally, methods such as evolutionary modeling, artificial neural networks, and Monte Carlo simulations can be flexibly applied to evaluate exposure scenarios and long-term impacts on public health,” he added.

Meanwhile, EU risk-based control measures are developed to optimize management efficiency by prioritizing resource allocation based on the probability and severity of hazards. According to Regulation (EU) 2017/625, regulatory authorities must consider various factors, such as product characteristics, the type of facility operation, compliance history, and the reliability of internal control systems. A case study in Ireland shows that a decentralized model in food safety control offers flexibility, yet requires stringent monitoring, coordination, and alignment mechanisms to ensure the consistent and effective application of control measures across the entire system.