Tiếng Việt
Hanoi, 02 July 2026
Authors: Bùi Minh Trí and Bùi Phạm Nhật Linh
On 02 July 2026, the Consultation Workshop on Food Loss Assessment was held in Hanoi as part of the Strategic Sector Cooperation on Food Safety phase III between Viet Nam and Denmark. The workshop brought together representatives from the Embassy of Denmark, the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, the Danish Veterinary, Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Agency, the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of International Cooperation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, IFRO, VAFIS, VNUA, FAO Viet Nam, livestock sector representatives, professional associations, research institutions, enterprises, and technical experts.
The workshop provided an important platform for sharing preliminary findings on food loss in the tuna and pork value chains. It also created an opportunity for government agencies, researchers, enterprises, and stakeholders to discuss practical challenges, evidence gaps, and possible solutions for reducing food loss and improving the efficiency of food systems in Viet Nam.
For the pork food loss component, Mr. Bùi Minh Trí and Ms. Bùi Phạm Nhật Linh participated in person, while Dr. Bùi Lê Vinh joined online. As the team leader of the pork assessment, Dr. Bùi Lê Vinh presented the preliminary findings from the upstream pork value chain, focusing on pig production, transport/intermediary actors, and slaughterhouses supplying the Hanoi market.
The presentation introduced the revised research design, which shifted the study focus from a broad food loss and waste framework to a more measurable upstream pork food loss assessment. This design focuses on where food loss can be identified and measured before the retail stage: from farms, through transport and intermediary actors, to slaughterhouses and primary meat handling.
At the time of the progress report, the pork team had completed and digitized 57 out of the target 120 survey samples, including 43 pig farms, 3 transport/intermediary actors, and 11 slaughterhouses. The preliminary dataset covered Hanoi, Tuyen Quang, and Hung Yen, with Bac Ninh and additional Hanoi supply areas planned for the next wave of fieldwork.
The preliminary findings showed that farm-level losses are currently the clearest direct food-loss hotspot in the pork chain. Key loss drivers include neonatal piglet mortality, scattered mortality, disease-related losses, and production shocks. The team also highlighted that transport and slaughter may involve less visible but economically important forms of loss, such as live-weight shrinkage, stress, dehydration, bruising, abscess trimming, downgraded meat, and rejected organs.
Another important message from the presentation was the need to distinguish clearly between food loss, quality loss, economic loss, edible by-products, and unavoidable non-edible waste. In the pork chain, many by-products such as organs, blood, head, feet, bones, and fat still have economic and food value. Therefore, they should not automatically be counted as food loss. Food loss should focus on edible meat or organs that are discarded, downgraded, or lose value due to disease lesions, abscesses, bruising, or poor handling.
The presentation received strong attention from the participants. Delegates provided constructive feedback on how to sharpen the analytical focus, strengthen measurement in transport and slaughter, and improve the classification of different loss types. Their comments also helped the team further consider practical issues such as slaughterhouse recording, before-and-after weighing during transport, waiting time before slaughter, and how to link evidence from slaughterhouses back to farm-level practices.
The pork research team highly appreciated the comments and recommendations shared during the workshop. These inputs will be used to improve the progress report, refine the second wave of data collection, and strengthen the final recommendations for reducing food loss in the pork value chain.
The Hanoi workshop concluded successfully and marked an important step in the consultation process. The discussion helped build a stronger evidence base for the Food Loss Assessment and contributed to developing practical, policy-relevant recommendations for improving food loss reduction efforts in Viet Nam.
Key messages
- The Hanoi workshop created an important forum for discussing preliminary food loss findings in the tuna and pork value chains.
- The AGG/VNUA pork team presented initial evidence from the upstream pork chain, focusing on farm, transport, and slaughter.
- The preliminary results showed that farms are the clearest direct food-loss hotspot, while transport and slaughter require stronger measurement of hidden losses.
- Stakeholder feedback will help the team improve the final report, refine the next data collection wave, and develop more practical recommendations.