Update knowledge: What documents are required to do business in functional foods?

What documents are required to do business in functional foods? – You want to do business in functional foods but do not have knowledge about the industry? Do not know how to complete the documents and legal procedures? Don’t worry! Your difficulties will be “solved” by us in this article!

I. What documents are required to do business in functional foods?

What documents are required to do business in functional foods? → According to state regulations, to do business in functional foods, businesses must complete the following 5 types of documents:

1. Business registration certificate

To trade in dietary supplements, businesses must have a business license. In particular, the license MUST HAVE the business line of dietary supplements. Note: It is necessary to quote the correct level 4 industry code in the Vietnamese economic industry code system.

However, this is only a NECESSARY condition, a BASIC condition to be able to trade in dietary supplements. If you want to trade, you must provide some additional documents.

2. Certificate of food safety and hygiene facility

The second license required to trade in functional foods: Food Safety and Hygiene Certificate. This is a mandatory document for any business that trades and produces food in general and functional foods in particular.

According to the provisions of Article 28, Decree 15/2018ND-CP, there are some detailed conditions to receive a Certificate of food safety and hygiene facility. Business establishments must meet the requirements of:

→ Build and maintain a quality assurance management system to control the production and circulation of products so that all products produced by the facility meet quality and safety standards for employers as announced.

→ Professional qualifications of staff: the person in charge of the facility's expertise must have a university degree or higher and major in Medicine, Pharmacy, Nutrition, Food Safety, Food Technology, and have at least 03 years of experience in this field.

→ The facility is designed and installed to suit the intended use, easy to clean, avoiding confusion, dirt, pollution... affecting product quality.

→ Records and documents must be fully archived, production activities must follow strict procedures, and the results of the implementation process must be fully recorded.

→ The facility must have a quality control department, the product must be stable, and the product must be tested before being released to the market.

3. Certificate of compliance with food safety regulations

What documents are required to trade in functional foods? → To trade in functional foods, your business needs a certificate of compliance with food safety and hygiene regulations. 

This type of license is used to review whether the functional product ensures food safety and is granted a certificate, the limits of pathogenic microorganisms, pesticide residues, heavy metals and substances that can be harmful to human health must be within the safe threshold, ensuring the standards prescribed by law or not.

In addition, the product must also meet requirements such as:

→ Ingredients of additives used

→ Packaging and labeling

→ Food preservation regulations

→ Have a test report on the effectiveness of the product (for new products on the market)

In case you do business in imported dietary supplements, you need to meet other requirements on records and documents of the Ministry of Health.

When you have completed all 3 of these documents, you will be allowed to trade in dietary supplements!

II. Where should I go to apply for a license to trade in functional foods?

In Part I of the article, we only introduced you to business licenses, but in reality, a complete set of documents for business requires more documents. A complete set of documents includes:

• Application for Certificate of food safety qualified facility;
• Business registration certificate with registered business line of functional foods (copy certified by the facility).
• Description of facilities, equipment, and tools ensuring food safety conditions (with confirmation from the facility), including:
• Schematic drawing of the facility and surrounding area;
• Flowchart of food production process or product preservation and distribution process and description of facilities, equipment and tools of the facility.

After completing the above application, please bring it to the Department of Food Safety - Ministry of Health. After receiving the application, the agency receiving the application is responsible for reviewing the application, assessing the facility and issuing a Certificate to the facility that meets food safety conditions. The application processing time is about 15 days.

III. NanoFrance – Support customers to complete business documents for dietary supplements!

With the desire to help customers reduce the time for completing documents, NanoFrance currently has a service to support partners in completing legal documents. We commit to:

• Consulting, enthusiastic support, thorough, detailed
• Support customers to complete documents in the shortest time
• Best price

With many years of experience in the field of complete processing of dietary supplements, we are completely confident in becoming your leading partner!

Do you know: What documents are needed to do business in functional foods? NanoFrane currently not only supports customers in completing legal procedures for business in functional foods but also provides processing and manufacturing services. Don't forget to contact us if you have a need to produce and process this product line!