In the first two months of 2025, Vietnam received 16 warnings from the European Union (EU) over chemical and antibiotic residues in agricultural and fishery products, the highest number among Asian countries. This follows 114 warnings in 2024, a 70% increase versus 2023, signaling a serious risk of losing market share as countries are tightening inspections of plant quarantine. More exports, more warnings This growing concern was highlighted by a representative from SPS Vietnam (Vietnam’s Office for Notification and National Point for Questions and Answers About Epidemiological Hygiene and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Quarantine) during an online conference on February 24, which focused on compliance with EU food safety regulations. Vietnam’s agricultural and fishery exports to the EU in 2024 totaled nearly US$4.5 billion, a 25% increase from 2023 and a 55% rise from 2020, according to customs data. However, alongside this export growth, the country received a record 114 warnings from the EU, nearly double the number in 2023. In early 2025, Vietnam got the most EU warnings in Asia, followed by Thailand with six warnings, Indonesia with two, and South Korea with two. Between 2023 and February 2025, the leading cause of EU warnings has been chemical residues, including […]