PUBLICATION

Policy framing and crisis narratives around food safety in Vietnam

Publication date: 17 | 10 | 2024

While progress has been made recently in understanding food systems per se, much less is known about policies around those food systems.

 In this paper, we aim at understanding the food system policy context with the specific objective to look at policy dynamics—defined as the way policy agendas are identified, justified, and framed by decision-makers, and how they interact. Vietnam is used as a case study. Primary data were generated through face-to-face interviews complemented by an online survey. A policy framing approach was used to structure the research. The analysis reveals how the policy agenda is considered by many actors to be only partially evidence-based and highlights the extent to which the state government remains the most powerful actor in the setting of that agenda. The research also reveals the diffusion of the food safety crisis narrative beyond its original technical domain into a larger number of policy framings related to other issues of food systems, thus making it de facto the “center of gravity” of the current agenda on food systems in Vietnam. Yet, a comparison with data from other countries challenges this narrative, and reveals instead how the (legitimate) public concern about food safety is being instrumentalized by certain groups of actors to advance their own agenda. The implication of this “distorted” framing is the risk for the decision-makers to “overfocus” their attention on this short-term issue and lose sight of some other longer-term structural trends such as the emergence of obesity in Vietnamese urban population.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2514848620941515

 

 

 

OTHER NEWS

Partial food systems baseline assessment at the Vietnam benchmark sites

17-10-2024

Using data collected from a cross-sectional study in Moc Chau, Dong Anh and Cau Giay districts in Vietnam, this report aims to elucidate specific components of local Vietnamese food systems along a rural to urban transect focusing specifically on (i) diets, (ii) nutrition status (anthropometry), (iii) consumer behavior, (iv) food environment, and (v) food flows. The results are summarized as below:

Navigating the politics and processes of food systems transformation: guidance from a holistic framework

17-10-2024

The call for transforming food systems from their current unsustainable trajectories toward more desirable, healthy, sustainable, resilient, and equitable outcomes has received unprecedented echoes recently—particularly following the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit.

From Streets to Tables: Bottom–Up Co-creation Case Studies for Healthier Food Environments in Vietnam and Nigeria

17-10-2024

Current food systems fail to provide equity, sustainability, and positive health outcomes, thus underscoring the critical need for their transformation. Intervening in food environments holds substantial promise for contributing to this much-needed transformation.

Food Systems Profile: Moc Chau, The Rural Area - Vietnam

17-10-2024

This Food Systems (FS) profile aims to provide a synopsis of the food system of the Moc Chau District in Son La, a peri-urban area in north Vietnam. This profile gives an overview of the main food system outcomes, constituent elements and drivers.

Food Systems Profile: Dong Anh, The peri-urban area - Vietnam.

17-10-2024

This Food Systems (FS) profile aims to provide a synopsis of the food system of the Dong Anh district in Hanoi, a peri-urban area in north Vietnam. This profile gives an overview of the main food system outcomes, constituent elements and drivers.

Food Systems Profile - Cau Giay, The Urban Area - Vietnam

17-10-2024

This Food Systems (FS) profile aims to provide a synopsis of the food system of the Cau Giay district in Hanoi, an urban area in north Vietnam.

Food system policy baseline assessment - Report from Vietnam

17-10-2024

This policy baseline assessment was to provide a snapshot of the views and perceptions of policy-makers and key actors in different domains directly related to food system in Vietnam. This work contributes in Vietnam to the Food System for Healthier Diet flagship implemented as part of the Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) CGIAR Research Programme.

Diets, Food Choices and Environmental Impacts across an Urban-Rural Interface in Northern Vietnam

17-10-2024

In this study, the authors investigate how the nutrition—food—environment nexus changes across a rural–urban transect and gender and affects diets, food choices, and consequent environmental impacts. The study aims to (1) characterize the dietary patterns and the GHGE and blue water use associated with the diets and (2) to examine the associations between food sourcing, perceived food choices, and diet-related environmental impacts in three contrasting urban, peri-urban, and rural districts in Northern Vietnam.

Determining key research areas for healthier diets and sustainable food systems in Viet Nam

17-10-2024

Vietnamese food systems are undergoing rapid transformation, with important implications for human and environmental health and economic development. Poverty has decreased, and diet quality and undernutrition have improved significantly since the end of the Doi Moi reform period (1986-1993) as a result of Viet Nam opening its economy and increasing its regional and global trade.

Defining the benchmark research sites (rural to urban transect) in Vietnam

17-10-2024

To foster in-depth research and practical applications, selecting benchmark sites from rural to urban areas not only reflects the diversity of food systems but also serves as a key to sustainable solutions.

Defining barriers to food systems sustainability: a novel conceptual framework

17-10-2024

The transformation of food systems emerges as a critical challenge necessitating a deep, holistic comprehension of the complex and multifaceted barriers that hinder progress towards sustainability.

Cost and affordability of healthy diets in Vietnam

17-10-2024

Objectives: To estimate the cost and affordability of healthy diets recommended by the 2016–2020 Vietnamese food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG).