VZCZCXRO9163
RR RUEHAST RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHTM
DE RUEHHI #1368/01 3520442
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 170442Z DEC 08 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8871
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 5396
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7207
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0004
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 001368 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
HHS/OSSI/DSI PASS TO OGHA (MABDOO) AND FDA (MLUMPKIN/RCAMPBELL) 
CDC FOR COGH AND CCEHIP/NCEH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EAGR SENV TBIO EFIN ETRD VM
SUBJECT: STAFFDEL NELSON REVIEWS FOOD SAFETY ISSUES 
 
REF: A. HANOI 1320; B. HANOI 409; C. HANOI 398; D. HANOI 588 E. 2005 
HANOI 2236 
 
HANOI 00001368  001.6 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  A Staff Delegation from the House of 
Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, consisting of 
Chief Investigator David Nelson and Investigative Counsel Krista 
Carpenter, visited Hanoi from December 4 to 8 to meet with 
Government of Vietnam (GVN) officials to review U.S. food safety 
concerns, detail recent changes in U.S. laws that likely will impact 
Vietnamese fish imports, and learn about Vietnam's response to 
melamine contamination in products imported from China.  Following 
the visit to Hanoi, the delegation traveled south to review several 
fish and shrimp farms in the Mekong Delta to see how actual practice 
meshed with Vietnamese claims of proper health and environmental 
management for the aquaculture sector (To be reported septel by 
Consulate General Ho Chi Minh City). 
 
Vietnamese Authorities Review Fish Safety Scheme 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶2. (U) Vietnamese authorities described a two-tiered regulatory 
system designed to ensure food safety at the farm and at processing 
facilities.  Fish products make up a large percentage of Vietnamese 
exports and the GVN works closely with importing countries to 
maintain access to those markets.  Nguyen Nhu Tiep, Deputy Director 
General of the National Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Quality 
Assurance Department (NAFIQAD), noted that the Ministry of Health 
(MOH), Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) and the Ministry of 
Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), of which NAFIQAD was part, 
divided up responsibility for food safety, with each developing 
technical regulations and quality standards.  MARD covered food from 
farm to factory, along with agricultural exports, while MOH handled 
agricultural products sold on the domestic market.  The Department 
of Aquaculture within MARD monitored good aquaculture practices at 
the farm level, notably sanitation and hygiene.  NAFIQAD took over 
monitoring from pond to processing plant, highlighted by routine 
plant inspections to ensure compliance.  [Note: Consistent with 
international recommendations to decrease the number of ministries 
involved in regulatory control over food, the Ministry of Fisheries, 
including the predecessor to NAFIQAD, was recently reorganized into 
MARD.  End Note] 
 
The Export Approval Process 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Tiep stated that only those processors that meet national 
standards could export.  To ensure compliance with these standards, 
inspections normally take place two to four times per year, but can 
increase to twice monthly if the plant has problems.  Samples of 
fish taken during the inspections are sent to one of six regional 
labs.  If the results do not show contaminants, NAFIQAD approves the 
facility for export.  Over the past year, NAFIQAD has performed 
roughly 2,000 inspections of the approximately 560 fish processing 
facilities.  Only about two to three per month receive a "C" or 
lowest rating each month, which results in a suspension from 
exporting.  Per Vietnamese regulations, Vietnam will negotiate to 
meet additional requirements imposed by trading partners, so long as 
such requirements remain consistent with the WTO Agreement on the 
Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPC Agreement). 
Currently, pursuant to an agreement with the European Union (EU), 
MARD created a systems approach to controls, based on an EU 
approved-based list of facilities.  Per the EU agreement, only those 
facilities on the list can export into the EU.  The list may be 
supplemented and reduced each year following an annual inspection 
covering Vietnamese regulations, inspector competence, facilities 
and the hygiene conditions of fish products. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) current practice and 
legal interpretation of U.S. regulations does not support 
pre-approval or testing of every shipment.  (Note: Nelson noted that 
new FDA lawyers in the incoming administration might have a 
different view of FDA powers).  Currently, pursuant to domestic 
regulations, the GVN has approved over 400 of the 560 processors to 
export to the United States.  At this point, Vietnam relies upon 
facility inspections and the integrity of documents, records and 
labeling to ensure the quality of exports to the United States.  It 
performs additional testing only if regulatory officials detect 
problems in internal processes or if they learn of tainted 
shipments.  Following detection of chlorophenicol in fish exports to 
the United States in 2003, Vietnam voluntarily tested every U.S. 
fish shipment under temporary "emergency" regulations, but stopped 
 
HANOI 00001368  002.8 OF 003 
 
 
in February, 2007 after Vietnam instituted various systems 
corrections (Ref E).  Since that time, NAFIQAD claims things have 
been improved and has returned to a revised standard regulatory 
approach. 
 
Fish Farm Regulations 
--------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) At the MARD Department of Aquaculture (DA), Director 
General Vu Van Dung and his staff reviewed GVN oversight of fish 
farms.  Currently, the DA is working with targeted fish-raising 
provinces to form an overarching aquaculture plan to support the 
sector.  To ensure the quality of pond raised tra and basa fish, DA 
manages all "farm" conditions through tests of 1) ponds and 
surrounding areas to ensure water quality, 2) feed quality to 
monitor and limit contaminants, and 3) drugs and micro-organism 
products to prevent levels above those accepted by Vietnamese law or 
by the laws of importing countries.  DA also manages the breeding 
process.  Only fish farms that meet the above standards, maintain 
sufficient pond barrier height to prevent contamination of fish 
ponds, and can ensure no leakages from the ponds into surrounding 
areas can receive certificates entitling them to export fish. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Responding to Nelson's concerns that some exported fish 
might be raised in unsanitary conditions (i.e., under houseboats on 
rivers and fed domestic waste or from ponds flooded by polluted 
river or rainwater runoff), Dung stated that all tra fish are raised 
in ponds.  While basa fish are raised in ponds and in rivers, the 
"cage farming" in rivers that concerned Nelson had been banned since 
the end of 2007.  Some of these "cage farmed" fish still made their 
way to local, small-scale wet markets, but were not likely to be 
exported.  DA also had guidelines to handle water quality in typhoon 
and flood conditions to ensure contaminant-free fish.  As with 
cage-farmed basa, some small scale producers of pond-raised tra 
might not comply with all requirements, but their products were only 
consumed in local, domestic markets.  The DA is working to group 
these small farms into production cooperatives to upgrade the 
fish-raising facilities and technologies. 
 
Staffdel Discusses Impact of U.S. Legislation 
on Vietnamese Fish Exports 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Nelson stated that the recently signed U.S. Farm Bill would 
move jurisdiction over catfish imports from the Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA) to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). 
This change could significantly limit Vietnamese catfish exports to 
the United States, he admitted, a fact not lost on our Vietnamese 
interlocutors.  Many noted the apparent inconsistency of earlier USG 
holdings that basa and tra could not be labeled as "catfish" with 
the current legislation's likely determination that these fish are 
"catfish" for purposes of jurisdiction under the USDA food safety 
regime. 
 
Vietnam Struggles to Control Safety 
of Chinese Imports 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶8. (SBU) At the Vietnam Food Administration (VFA), Deputy Director 
Hoang Thuy Tien detailed Vietnamese problems with tainted products 
imported from China, especially the recent wave of melamine 
contaminated dairy products.  Noting Vietnam's 600 kilometer land 
border, extensive nautical boundary, and similarity in crops and 
animals grown on both sides of the border, Vietnam tries to stem the 
rising tide of uncontrolled Chinese imports.  Tien noted both 
government-to-government and province-to-province agreements to 
control the cross border trade.  While Vietnam tries to curb illegal 
imports, many Chinese goods (standard and sub-standard) enter 
through normal, regulated trade channels or through permitted local 
transactions among parties along the border.  Without sufficient 
laboratory testing capacity on the border or in major cities, the 
VFA struggles to determine the quality of imported food products. 
In addition to melamine concerns, Tien acknowledged worries about 
increased imports of Chinese poultry products (Ref B and C) and 
vegetables to respond to shortages in northern Vietnam caused by 
recent flooding.  Tien did not believe that many Chinese products 
were transshipped through Vietnam, instead finding their final 
destinations in Vietnamese markets. 
 
Vietnam's Response to Melamine Contamination 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
HANOI 00001368  003.6 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) Tien noted that Chinese dairy imports actually form a 
relatively small part of the Vietnamese market, with most milk 
products arriving from New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands and 
the U.S.  Tien claimed that Vietnam only imported milk powder and 
sterilized milk liquids from China (Note: Vietnam also imports some 
processed foods from China, such as candies, that were found to 
contain melamine and had no reported cases of illness due to 
exposure to melamine.  Though Vietnam recently had uncovered several 
instances of melamine contamination in Chinese products, most 
products had relatively modest melamine levels, though one test of 
Yili brand milk from Sanlu found melamine at  5,000-6,000 ppm. 
Following detection of melamine contamination, VFA suspended dairy 
imports from China (Ref A).  Once VFA detects contamination in an 
imported product, it can require re-exportation, use for a different 
(and acceptable) purpose, recycling or destruction.  According to 
Tien, contaminated products with a percentage of melamine below 2.5 
parts per million could be used as animal feed, while products above 
that level would be destroyed. 
 
Vietnamese Drug Market 
---------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) According to Dr. Truong Quoc Cuong, the Director General 
of the Drug Administration of Vietnam, the Vietnamese drug market is 
valued at about 1.4 billion, with domestic production making up 
about half the total. Both Vietnamese companies and joint ventures 
operate in Vietnam and Cuong welcomed U.S. companies to enter the 
market.  Vietnam's medical product exports total about USD 27 
million annually.  Vietnam exports medical products (mainly 
antibiotics, diabetes medication, contraceptive pills, and 
anti-malarial drugs) to Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America. 
Vietnam produces active pharmaceutical ingredients such as 
amoxycilin for the domestic market and exports to Africa.  Vietnam 
imports a variety of drugs from countries such as Korea, China, 
India, Australia and France. 
 
Vietnamese Drug Safety Efforts 
------------------------------ 
 
¶11. (SBU) Per Cuong, his office's top priority was to ensure a 
sufficient supply of good quality medicines.  To do so, the Drug 
Administration applies a total quality management system recommended 
by the WHO for drug manufacturing.  Cuong highlighted a steady 
reduction since 1990 in the amount of counterfeit drugs sold in 
Vietnam to 0.03 percent of all medications (an additional 0.3 
percent were substandard) in 2007 (note: visits to local pharmacies 
and other retail drug centers indicate a substantially higher 
figure).  API manufacturers operate under the same regulations as 
drug makers.   It does not yet export to the United States.  The GVN 
does not have the resources to check all domestic manufacturing 
plants or imports and focuses on the most easily counterfeited or 
most frequently substandard products, particularly those that may 
cause harm to consumers, whether injection, herbal, tablet or 
capsule.  The GVN will also randomly sample drugs produced prior to 
importation, GVN officials try to check the manufacturing facilities 
and will continue to do so as necessary after imports commence. 
 
¶12. (U) This cable was coordinated with Consulate General Ho Chi 
Minh City. 
 
MICHALAK