Vietnam mandates stricter oversight of school meal safety and supplier selection

The Vietnamese government has issued an official dispatch to strengthen the safety and quality of boarding and semi-boarding meals in educational institutions. The Prime Minister has directed provincial and city chairpersons to take full responsibility for meal organization, emphasizing that suppliers should not be selected solely based on low prices. Local authorities are instructed to strictly inspect food origins, processing conditions, and nutritional control to prevent food safety incidents.

In Hanoi, the 2026-2027 school year marks the launch of 'HanoiCheck,' a nutrition and food safety database designed to allow schools and parents to monitor menus and food sources. Under new regulations, the responsibility for selecting food suppliers has shifted from individual schools to commune and ward People's Committees. These local authorities must establish evaluation councils to assess the capacity and actual conditions of suppliers through field inspections before proposing them for selection.

This administrative shift follows concerns regarding inadequate meal quality and insufficient nutritional value in some areas. Hanoi officials aim to ensure transparency and strict supervision from the procurement stage through to meal distribution for its approximately 2.3 million students.