Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - More than 90 percent of dietary supplement producersin Vietnam have not implemented Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), accordingto health officials, leading to fears that without gaining GMP certificates byJuly next year, their production would be halted.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, head of the Food Safety Department under Health Ministry,said according to incomplete statistics, there were about 4,000 dietarysupplement producers in Vietnam now but about 300 had GMP certificates – theguidelines recommended by the Health Ministry to ensure products areconsistently high in quality and don’t harm users.

Under a Government decision issued in February, by July next year, all dietarysupplement producers in Vietnam must have GMP certificates.

The criteria for GMP certification in dietary supplement production are thesame as for medicine production, Phong said.

The requirements included those relating to infrastructure, equipment, workingconditions, staff and documents.

“Company owners or officers responsible for dietary supplement production mustundergo tertiary education with a major relating to the company’s products,”Phong said.

“It is reported that many owners of dietary supplement companies don’t haveproper understanding about medicine, pharmacy and nutrition,” he added.

The Government also requires GMP manufacturers to record their operations,especially documents on output material and quality testing.

Phong said that previously, Vietnam did not have regulations on production atdietary supplement companies. Instead, they followed regulations for foodproduction.

“The lack of specific regulations for dietary supplement production causedinequality in business climate and affected consumers’ rights and benefits,” hesaid.

For example, companies with GMP certificates invested much to meet GMPrequirements while companies without GMP certificates just rented an office, aworkshop, bought packing equipment and sold products.

“Tightened controls on dietary supplement production are expected to curbsubstandard products,” he said.

Head of the HCM City Food Safety Management Board Pham Khanh Phong Lantold Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper that in the last few years,Vietnam’s dietary supplement market had grown strongly.

Nearly a decade ago, only a few dozen dietary supplement products wereavailable. Now, there are more than 10,000 kinds of products locally made orimported.

Increased consumption of dietary supplements showed that people invested morein health, she said.

“The increase in demand leads to the increase in supply, following marketrules. But improper control by Government bodies resulted in problems such assubstandard products, fake products and uncontrolled prices,” she said.

Lan said that technical standards like GMP should have been used to control thequality of dietary supplement much earlier. The Health Ministry has extendedthe deadline for manufacturers to implement GMP many times previously.

“It’s time to tighten control on dietary supplements, both domestic andimported,” Lan said.

She also reassured the public that supply would still meet demand in casenon-GMP manufacturers close. Now, many GMP manufacturers are operating undertheir designated capacity because of unhealthy competition caused bysubstandard firms.

“When GMP manufactures can operate at full capacity or they can outsource theirproducts, supply can meet demand,” she said.-VNS/VNA