Nutrition Labels in Viet Nam: What They Tell You, What They Do Not, and How to Use Them When Shopping and Cooking
FOOD LITERACY & PRACTICAL TOOLS
Category: Food Literacy & Practical Tools
Last reviewed: 27 September 2026
A nutrition label can give us useful information about a packaged food, but only if we know what we are looking at. A number on a label does not tell us whether a food is automatically “healthy” or “unhealthy,” and it does not tell us exactly how much an individual person should eat. What it can do is help us compare similar products, understand some of the nutrients they contain and make more informed decisions about how those foods fit into a meal.
This has become particularly relevant in Viet Nam. In July 2026, the Ministry of Health issued Circular No. 30/2026/TT-BYT, which now governs the content and presentation of nutrition information on food labels within its scope. The Circular took effect on 10 July 2026 and replaced Circular No. 29/2023/TT-BYT. It applies to prepackaged foods manufactured, imported, traded or circulated in Viet Nam, subject to specified exclusions. [1]
For simplicity, this article uses the term “nutrition label” to refer to nutrition information displayed on a food label. Viet Nam’s current regulation specifies which nutrition information must be declared, the units used, how values may be expressed and how the information should be presented so that it is easy to recognize and understand. It does not prescribe one universal graphic “Nutrition Facts” panel of the kind used in some other countries. [1]
For Culinary Medicine Vietnam, the practical question is not how to turn every shopping trip into a nutrition calculation. It is how to use the information already available to make better comparisons and then bring those choices into the kitchen in a way that makes sense.
Key Points
Nutrition labels are tools for information and comparison, not a score for the whole food. A lower value for one nutrient does not automatically make one product the better choice overall.
For foods within the scope of Circular No. 30/2026/TT-BYT, required nutrition information generally covers energy, protein, carbohydrate, total fat and sodium, subject to the exemption conditions in the Circular and Appendix I. Soft drinks, processed milk with added sugar and other foods with added sugar must also declare total sugars. Foods processed by frying must additionally declare saturated fat, again subject to the applicable exemption conditions. [1,2]
Always check the basis of comparison. Values may be expressed per 100 g or 100 ml, per a defined serving, or per packaged portion where the number of portions in the package is declared. Two numbers are not directly comparable if they refer to different amounts of food. [1]
“Total sugars” is not the same as “added sugars.” Under the current Vietnamese regulation, total sugars include both naturally occurring sugars and sugars added to the food. [1]
Nutrition information works best when read together with the ingredient list and the way the food will actually be used. Portion, frequency, recipe and the rest of the meal all matter.
Why Nutrition Labels Matter Before Food Reaches the Kitchen
Healthy cooking often starts before the stove is turned on. It can begin when we decide which bottle of sauce, loaf of bread, yoghurt, noodle product or frozen food goes into the shopping basket.
This does not mean packaged foods need to be viewed as inherently problematic. They are part of many modern kitchens, including Vietnamese kitchens. Fish sauce, soy sauce, bread, noodles, milk products, seasonings, frozen foods and other convenient ingredients can all have a place in everyday meals. The more useful questions are what the product contains, how much of it we are likely to use and how it contributes to the meal as a whole.
Viet Nam’s Ten Recommendations for Proper Nutrition toward 2030 explicitly encourage people to read nutrition information on food labels carefully before purchasing and consuming food products. Nutrition-label literacy is therefore not separate from national dietary guidance. It is one practical skill for putting that guidance into use. [3]
International guidance follows a similar principle. Codex nutrition-labelling standards and guidance are intended to make nutrition information available to consumers and support informed food choices. The current Codex Guidelines on Nutrition Labelling, CXG 2-1985, were most recently amended in 2024, while the General Standard for the Labelling of Pre-packaged Foods, CXS 1-1985, is currently listed as updated in 2026. [6,7]
What Changed in Viet Nam in 2026?
Circular No. 30/2026/TT-BYT, issued on 9 July 2026 and effective from 10 July 2026, is now the key Ministry of Health regulation governing nutrition information on food labels within its scope. It replaced Circular No. 29/2023/TT-BYT from the date it took effect. [1]
The Circular applies to prepackaged foods manufactured, imported, traded or circulated in Viet Nam, but it does not apply to every food. Its exclusions include, among others, ingredients and foods not sold directly to consumers, foods containing only one ingredient, natural mineral water and certain bottled water, food salt, vinegar, flavourings and food additives, food enzymes, certain tea and coffee products, health supplements, alcoholic beverages and foods manufactured by specified small-scale food businesses. The full list is set out in Article 1 of the Circular. Where an excluded product voluntarily declares nutrition information, that declaration must follow the Circular. [1]
This distinction matters. A consumer should not conclude that a product is non-compliant simply because it does not carry the nutrition information described in this article. The first question is whether the food falls within the regulation’s scope.
There is also a transitional provision. Foods with labels that do not yet include nutrition information in accordance with Circular No. 30/2026 but that were manufactured, traded, imported or circulated in Viet Nam before 1 January 2026 may continue to circulate and be used until the expiry date stated on their labels. Consumers may therefore continue to see some variation in the market during the transition. [1]
What Nutrition Information Can You Expect to See?
For foods subject to the requirement, Circular No. 30/2026 identifies five basic nutrition components: energy, protein, carbohydrate, total fat and sodium. However, a nutrient does not have to be declared if the food does not contain it or if its value is below the applicable threshold specified in Appendix I. [1,2]
Additional requirements apply to certain foods. Soft drinks, processed milk with added sugar and other foods with added sugar must also declare total sugars. Foods processed by frying must additionally declare saturated fat. These requirements are likewise subject to the relevant exemption thresholds. [1]
Energy is expressed in kilocalories, or kcal. Protein, carbohydrate, total fat, saturated fat and total sugars are expressed in grams, while sodium is expressed in milligrams. Values may be expressed per 100 g or 100 ml of food, per a defined serving whose amount is stated on the label, or per packaged portion where the number of portions in the package is declared. [1]
Organizations and individuals responsible for food labelling may also voluntarily express the percentage of a dietary reference value. Appendix II currently specifies reference values of 2,000 kcal for energy, 50 g for protein, 325 g for carbohydrate, 56 g for total fat, 20 g for saturated fat and 2,000 mg for sodium. No dietary reference value is currently specified in the Appendix for total sugars. [2]
These figures can be useful for labelling and comparison, but they are not personalized prescriptions. Energy and nutrient needs vary according to age, body size, physical activity, growth, pregnancy or breastfeeding, health status and other factors. A percentage shown on a package is therefore best understood as a labelling reference, not an individualized nutrition target.
Start With the Basis of Comparison
One of the easiest ways to misread nutrition information is to compare numbers based on different amounts of food.
Imagine that Product A reports sodium per 100 ml, while Product B reports sodium per serving. If the serving is 15 ml, the two sodium numbers cannot simply be placed side by side. They first need to be converted to the same basis, or you need to consider how much of each product you actually expect to use.
For straightforward product-to-product comparisons, 100 g or 100 ml is often the easiest common basis when both products provide it. It allows us to compare the concentration of a nutrient without the comparison being distorted by different serving definitions.
A serving declaration can still be useful, especially when it resembles the amount normally consumed. But the serving shown on a package should not automatically be interpreted as the amount an individual is recommended to eat. Under the regulation, it is one basis for presenting nutrition information. Your actual portion may be smaller or larger.
This becomes especially important with ingredients rather than foods eaten on their own. A sauce might contain a high amount of sodium per 100 ml but be used by the teaspoon. Another product may appear moderate per serving, but several servings may be consumed at once. Both the standardized comparison and the real amount used in the kitchen matter.
Five Questions to Ask When Comparing Products
1. Am I Comparing the Same Amount?
Start by checking whether both labels use 100 g, 100 ml, a serving or a packaged portion. If they use different reference amounts, convert them to a common basis where possible or consider the amount of each product you realistically expect to consume.
A comparison only makes sense when we know what the numbers are referring to.
2. How Much Sodium Does the Product Contain?
Sodium deserves particular attention in the Vietnamese context because it can enter a meal from several sources at the same time, including salt, fish sauce, soy sauce, seasoning products, stock or bouillon products, dipping sauces and packaged ingredients.
Appendix II of Circular No. 30/2026 uses 2,000 mg of sodium as the dietary reference value. This is consistent with the current WHO population recommendation for adults of less than 2,000 mg of sodium per day, equivalent to less than 5 g of salt per day. [2,5]
The useful question is not simply, “Is this number high?” It is also, “How much of this product will actually go into the meal?”
When comparing two similar sauces or seasonings, looking at sodium on the same 100 ml or 100 g basis can help identify the lower-sodium option. Once the product reaches the kitchen, however, quantity matters. A lower-sodium sauce used in a very large amount can still contribute substantial sodium.
3. What Does “Total Sugars” Actually Mean?
This is one of the most useful distinctions to understand under the current Vietnamese framework.
Circular No. 30/2026 defines total sugars as the total amount of monosaccharides and disaccharides in a food, including both naturally occurring sugars and added sugars. [1]
In other words, total sugars should not be read as added sugars. The figure combines sugars naturally present in the food with sugars added during production.
A milk or yoghurt product, for example, may contain naturally occurring lactose as well as any sugar that has been added. A consumer should not assume that every gram shown as total sugars was added by the manufacturer.
This is where the ingredient list provides useful context. If sugar, syrup or another sweetening ingredient appears in the ingredient list, we know that a sweetening ingredient was used, although the nutrition information does not necessarily tell us what proportion of the total sugars came from that ingredient.
4. What Does the Ingredient List Add to the Picture?
Nutrition information and the ingredient list answer different questions. Nutrition information gives numerical values for selected nutrients. The ingredient list tells us what was used to make the product.
Under Viet Nam’s general goods-labelling rules, as amended, food ingredients are listed in descending order by weight, subject to the relevant requirements. [4]
That can add useful context when two products have similar nutrition values but different formulations. For bread or cereal products, the ingredient list may help show which grains are used and whether whole-grain ingredients appear prominently. For sauces, it can show ingredients contributing sweetness, saltiness or flavour. For yoghurt, it may reveal that sugar or another sweetening ingredient has been added in addition to naturally occurring milk sugars.
The ingredient list should not become another way of judging a food by one ingredient alone. Its value is in helping us understand the numbers more completely.
5. How Will I Actually Use This Food?
This is the question that brings label reading into the kitchen.
A jar of sauce may be one ingredient in a meal containing vegetables, tofu, fish and rice. Bread may be eaten with eggs and vegetables rather than on its own. Yoghurt may be part of breakfast with fruit and nuts. A convenient packaged product may be useful on a busy evening if it helps someone put together a practical meal.
The nutritional role of a food depends partly on amount, frequency and context. The aim is therefore not to find a perfectly labelled product. It is to understand enough about the food to use it more thoughtfully.
What the Nutrition Label Does Not Tell You
Nutrition information is useful, but it is necessarily incomplete.
It does not describe the overall quality of a person’s diet. It cannot tell us how varied the rest of the diet is, how many vegetables or fruits someone regularly eats, whether meals are affordable or culturally appropriate, or whether someone has reliable access to suitable foods.
It also does not necessarily display every nutrient that may be relevant. Under Circular No. 30/2026, dietary fibre is not one of the five basic nutrition components required for all foods within scope. Total sugars are additionally required for the categories specified by the Circular, while saturated fat is additionally required for foods processed by frying. Absence of a nutrient from the mandatory declaration should therefore not automatically be interpreted as absence of that nutrient from the food. [1]
The label also does not distinguish naturally occurring sugars from added sugars within the total-sugars number. Nor does a carbohydrate value, by itself, tell us whether the carbohydrate came largely from whole grains or more refined ingredients.
A nutrition label cannot determine an individual person’s optimal portion. It cannot tell someone with chronic kidney disease how much sodium, potassium, protein or fluid is appropriate for their condition. It cannot determine individualized carbohydrate needs for someone using glucose-lowering medication. And the nutrition information alone cannot determine whether a product is safe for a person with a particular food allergy.
Most importantly, nutrition information does not provide an overall health score.
One product may contain less sodium but more sugar. Another may contain more fat because it contains nuts or seeds. A food with a short ingredient list is not automatically nutritionally superior to one with a longer list, and multiple ingredients may be present for legitimate technological, safety or culinary reasons.
No single number should carry more meaning than it actually has.
From Label to Kitchen: Four Everyday Examples
Sauces and Seasonings
Fish sauce, soy sauce, seasoning sauces and stock products contribute substantially to the flavour of Vietnamese cooking, and they can also contribute sodium.
When comparing similar products, start with sodium using the same reference amount. Then think about how much you normally use. The practical objective is not necessarily to eliminate a familiar ingredient. It may be to choose between similar products more intelligently and use the chosen product deliberately, while also building flavour with herbs, aromatics, acidity, spices, texture and cooking technique.
The label provides information. What happens next depends on how the ingredient is used.
Yoghurt and Dairy Products
If two yoghurts both declare total sugars, comparing those values can be useful, but remember that total sugars may include both naturally occurring and added sugars under the current Vietnamese definition.
The ingredient list adds context. A plain milk-based yoghurt can contain naturally occurring lactose even when no sugar has been added. Another yoghurt may list sugar or another sweetening ingredient.
This is a good example of why the nutrition information and ingredient list are often more useful when read together.
Bread, Noodles and Grain Products
Bread, noodles and other grain products can differ in sodium, fat, ingredients and degree of refinement even when the descriptions on the front of the packages appear similar.
Compare like with like, preferably on the same 100 g basis where available, and then look at the ingredient list for additional information about the grains and other ingredients used.
Because dietary fibre is not among the five basic nutrition components required for all foods within the scope of Circular No. 30/2026, a fibre value may not always appear in the required declaration. The absence of a fibre number should therefore not be interpreted as proof that a product contains no fibre. [1]
Packaged Foods Used as Part of a Meal
A frozen or ready-to-prepare food may be convenient, but the nutrition information describes that product. It does not know what else you will put on the plate.
If the product contributes a substantial amount of sodium, the rest of the meal can be planned without adding several other highly salted components. If it contains relatively few vegetables, vegetables can be added. If the portion used by the household is larger than the amount on which the nutrition information is based, that difference should be considered when interpreting the numbers.
This is where food literacy becomes practical rather than purely numerical.
What About Reference Values and Percentages?
Circular No. 30/2026 allows organizations and individuals responsible for labelling to voluntarily express the percentage of dietary reference values for the nutrients covered by the regulation. [1]
These percentages can be useful because they place a nutrient amount in a broader reference context. It may be easier, for example, to recognize that a product contributes a substantial share of the sodium reference value than to interpret a milligram figure in isolation.
But reference values have limits. Codex nutrition-labelling guidance is designed to help consumers understand nutrition information and make informed choices; it does not turn population reference values into individualized dietary prescriptions. [6]
Put simply, a reference value provides context for interpreting a label. It is not a personal prescription.
This distinction is especially relevant for children, pregnant or breastfeeding women, older adults, athletes and people with medical or nutritional conditions.
Why Some Products May Not Show the Same Nutrition Information
Consumers should expect some variation in the marketplace.
First, Circular No. 30/2026 contains explicit exclusions from its scope. A single-ingredient food, for example, or certain water, tea, coffee and other excluded products may not be required to present the same nutrition information. [1]
Second, additional nutrient declarations differ by food category. Total sugars are additionally required in the situations specified by the Circular, while saturated fat is additionally required for foods processed by frying. [1]
Third, Appendix I sets thresholds below which specified nutrients do not have to be declared. For example, total sugars at or below 0.5 g per 100 g or 100 ml and saturated fat at or below 0.1 g per 100 g or 100 ml fall within the respective non-compulsory declaration thresholds. Importantly, Appendix I states that these thresholds are used only to determine when declaring the nutrient is not compulsory; they should not be repurposed as general definitions of “low sugar,” “low saturated fat” or other nutrition claims. [2]
Finally, the transitional provision means that some products already in circulation may continue using earlier labels until their expiry dates if they meet the conditions specified by the Circular. [1]
For consumers, the practical lesson is simple: the absence, presence or layout of one line on a food label is not enough by itself to determine the nutritional quality of the food or whether the product complies with the law.
A Simple Way to Read a Label Without Overthinking It
You do not need to analyse every nutrient on every package.
When deciding between similar products, first make sure you are comparing the same amount. Then focus on the nutrient that matters most for that particular comparison. For sauces and seasoning products, sodium may deserve particular attention. For products with added sugar that declare total sugars, that figure may help compare similar options. For fried foods, saturated fat may provide additional information.
Next, look at the ingredient list for context and think about how much of the product you are actually going to eat or use.
Then step back and ask the most useful question:
What role will this food play in the meal?
A label is most useful when it helps us answer that question rather than trying to answer it for us.
When Individual Nutrition Advice Matters
Population guidance and nutrition labels are designed for broad use. Individual needs can be very different.
Someone living with chronic kidney disease may require individualized guidance on sodium, potassium, protein or fluid. A person taking glucose-lowering medication may require individualized carbohydrate planning. People with food allergies need to consider applicable allergen information, not merely the nutrition declaration. Children, pregnant or breastfeeding women, people with malnutrition and others with particular health needs may also require individualized assessment.
In these situations, reading a label can still be useful, but the label does not determine the treatment plan.
General food education should remain clearly separated from individualized medical or nutrition care.
From Information to Better Decisions
Nutrition labels cannot make food decisions for us, and that is not their purpose.
Their value is practical. They can make differences between similar packaged foods easier to see. They can show us how much sodium, fat, carbohydrate or another declared nutrient a product contains. They can encourage us to look more carefully at the amount on which those numbers are based and to read the ingredient list for additional context. Most importantly, they can help us think about how a product will contribute to the food we actually prepare and eat.
Used poorly, nutrition information can reduce food to a collection of numbers and encourage us to chase whichever number looks lowest. Used thoughtfully, it can help us ask better questions before food reaches the kitchen.
For Culinary Medicine Vietnam, that is the purpose of food literacy: not to turn shopping into a nutrition exam, but to make available information easier to understand and more useful in the decisions people actually make.
References
Ministry of Health of Viet Nam. Circular No. 30/2026/TT-BYT dated 9 July 2026, Guidance on the content and presentation of nutritional components and nutritional values on food labels. Effective 10 July 2026. Văn Bản Chính Phủ
Ministry of Health of Viet Nam. Circular No. 30/2026/TT-BYT, Appendices I and II, including thresholds for non-compulsory nutrient declarations and Dietary Reference Values. THƯ VIỆN PHÁP LUẬT
National Institute of Nutrition, Viet Nam / Ministry of Health. Ten Recommendations for Proper Nutrition toward 2030, issued together with Decision No. 3594/QĐ-BYT dated 29 November 2024. Viện Dinh Dưỡng Quốc Gia
Government of Viet Nam. Decree No. 43/2017/NĐ-CP on goods labelling, particularly Article 16 on ingredients and quantitative ingredients, as amended and supplemented by Decree No. 111/2021/NĐ-CP. Văn Bản Chính Phủ
World Health Organization. Sodium reduction. Updated 11 May 2026. World Health Organization
Codex Alimentarius Commission. Guidelines on Nutrition Labelling, CXG 2-1985. Current version last modified in 2024. FAOHome
Codex Alimentarius Commission. General Standard for the Labelling of Pre-packaged Foods, CXS 1-1985. Current Codex listing updated in 2026. FAOHome
Disclaimer
This article is intended for general education and information. It explains selected aspects of the current Vietnamese framework for nutrition information on food labels and explores how consumers may use that information when shopping and cooking. It is not a comprehensive legal guide to food labelling and should not be understood as official regulatory guidance from the Ministry of Health or another government authority.
Requirements may vary according to the type of food, product composition, manufacturing process, applicable exemptions, transitional provisions and other regulatory requirements. Food manufacturers, importers, distributors and other organizations responsible for labelling should assess the requirements applicable to their specific products and obtain appropriate regulatory or legal advice where necessary.
The nutrition information discussed here does not provide individualized medical or nutrition advice and does not replace appropriate assessment, diagnosis, treatment, medical nutrition therapy or individualized nutrition care by suitably qualified and, where required, appropriately authorized professionals. A nutrition label cannot by itself determine whether a food is suitable for a particular medical condition.
Scientific evidence, nutrition recommendations and legal requirements may change over time. Culinary Medicine Vietnam aims to review and update this resource as relevant evidence, national guidance and regulatory requirements evolve.