​            On February 20, 2023, the Ministry of Heath issued Official Dispatch No.787/BYT-ATTP on tightening food safety measures at collective catering kitchens.

Accordingly, in order to proactively ensure food safety, effectively prevent food poisoning at workplace and school kitchens, the Ministry of Health is herein requesting the Ministry of Education and Training and the People's Committees of the provinces and centrally-affiliated cities to direct and focus on implementation of the following actions:

- Continue to enhance state management responsibility and state management responsibility for food safety in the new context, which emphasizes that heads of entities in charge of collective catering kitchens must be responsible for food safety in accordance with regulations.

-  Actively develop plans to ensure food safety for local collective catering kitchens at workplace or school, which stipulate that collective catering kitchens within industrial parks/export processing zones, schools, and hospitals must be inspected, supervised, post-inspected, and fully put under the delegated authority with the aim of ensuring that none of those failing to meet food safety requirements can operate.

- Strengthen interagency examination and inspection, especially the combination of Health and Education sector, in collaboration with the Management Boards of industrial zones/export processing zones, school boards, and leaders of medical establishments in supervising and checking compliance with food safety regulations regarding food origin, processing, preservation, transportation, delivery, three-step verification and storage of food samples at collective catering kitchens within industrial zones/export processing zones, school kitchens, hospital kitchens and facilities that provide ready-to-eat meals for local industrial parks/export processing zones, schools, and medical establishments. Early detect and resolutely handle violations against food safety regulations in accordance with law; publicize violations on mass media to give timely cautions to the community.

- Promote the propagation and education of food safety knowledge, food poisoning prevention and control measures suitable to each target group (i.e. workers, pupils, students, officers in charge of food safety, employees, etc.) with attention paid to food hygiene and personal hygiene in order to raise awareness, change behaviors and habits that pose food safety risks in selection, preservation, processing and use of food. Raise the awareness, roles and responsibilities of heads of entities in charge of collective catering kitchens, facilities providing ready-to-eat meals, especially Management Boards of industrial parks/export processing zones, school boards, leaders of medical establishments in order to ensure sustainable food production and business and responsibility for public health; praise collective catering kitchens and facilities providing ready-to-eat meals that strictly comply with the regulatory provisions of laws on food safety.

Department of Enterprise Management.​