Inspection of Ho Chi Minh City’s Wholesale Markets Calls for Crackdown on Unlicensed Informal Businesses

Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Council has called for tougher action against spontaneous, unlicensed businesses after an oversight team found persistent weaknesses in food-safety management at the city’s wholesale markets and other high-risk locations.

The team identified five broad groups of difficulties. After administrative units were reorganized, the area under management expanded and workloads increased, but local food-safety forces remained thin. Many staff work part time, and more than 40 units have requested additional personnel, staffing positions or dedicated food-safety officials in wards and communes.

Authorities also lack technical equipment and rapid testing tools. Street food, itinerant vendors and pushcarts are difficult to monitor because they change location frequently. Officials face further problems tracing the origin of ingredients and addressing consumer habits. Rules on delegation, authorization and penalties have not been issued consistently.

Le Minh Hai, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Food Safety Authority, said the agency’s responsibilities expanded after the administrative reorganization, while its staffing did not increase accordingly. Between July 2025 and June 2026, the authority inspected 3,648 establishments. Most inspections followed a plan, while surprise checks accounted for only a small share. Planned inspections must be announced in advance, Hai said, reducing their element of surprise and failing to fully reflect actual operating conditions.

A review of 12,724 product self-declaration dossiers found 1,468 with signs of possible violations involving declarations, product categories, test results, labels or certified translation documents. The authority will continue monitoring, inspecting and handling those cases.

The city recorded 19 food-poisoning incidents between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026, involving 1,389 people and no deaths. It currently manages 399 industrial catering providers, 2,525 school kitchens, 752 collective kitchens and more than 13,000 food-service businesses. School kitchens, industrial meals and street food remain priority areas.

At the Hóc Môn and Bình Điền wholesale markets, officials trace pork through the TE.FOOD system, QR codes, invoices and other documents. From July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2026, the markets recorded 135,555 incoming truck trips and traced the origins of more than 2.78 million pigs. Of 380 agricultural, forestry and aquatic product samples taken at the Bình Điền, Hóc Môn and Thủ Đức wholesale markets, 34 did not meet requirements.

The oversight team asked the city government to clarify how it will build, connect and use a shared database for food-safety management. It also called for common criteria for kitchens and tighter controls at wholesale markets, centralized slaughterhouses and other high-risk groups.

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After the administrative reorganization, the authority’s management scope and responsibilities increased, but its staffing did not increase accordingly.