From December 18 to 19, 2025, the "International Conference on Chemical and Microbiological Risk Assessment for Food Safety", co-hosted by the National Institute for Food Control (NIFC) of Vietnam and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), was grandly held at the headquarters of NIFC in Hanoi, Vietnam. The conference adopted a bilingual reporting mode in English and Vietnamese throughout, building an efficient communication bridge for Chinese and foreign guests. It gathered top experts and scholars in the global food safety field, including international authorities such as Dr. Ock Jin Paek, Deputy Director of the Food Safety Evaluation Division of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) of South Korea, Dr. Pavel Shur, Director of the Environmental Safety Research Center of the Federal Scientific Center for Medical and Preventive Health Risk Management Technologies (FBSI) of Russia, and Dr. Matthias Greiner, Head of the Exposure Assessment Department of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), as well as local senior scholars such as Assoc. Prof. Trần Cao Sơn, Vice Director of NIFC of Vietnam, Ms. Trần Thị Định, Expert of the Safe Food for Growth (SAFEGRO) Project, and Mr. Hoàng Văn Tú, Director of the IVAP Programme of the Irish Food Partnership.

On December 18, relevant responsible persons from the Vietnam Food Administration (VFA), NIFC of Vietnam and ILRI co-hosted the opening ceremony, kicking off this academic exchange activity. After the opening ceremony, the conference carried out three thematic sessions in sequence, focusing on cutting-edge industry hotspots and enhancing the effectiveness of academic discussions.

The first session centered on "Risk Assessment and Risk Management", co-chaired by Prof. Nguyễn Công Khẩn and Dr. Fred Unger. Assoc. Prof. Trần Cao Sơn, Vice Director of NIFC of Vietnam, took the lead in delivering a keynote report entitled "Digitalization of Food Safety Risk Assessment Data: International Practices and Recommendations for Vietnam", providing ideas for optimizing Vietnam's food safety data management system. Subsequently, Chinese and foreign experts including Ms. Trần Thị Định, Expert of the SAFEGRO Project, and Dr. Đặng Xuân Sinh, Scientist of ILRI, took the stage to share the latest research results and practical experience on major issues such as the modernization path of Vietnam's national food safety management system and the safety assessment and intervention strategies for traditional food chains in Vietnam and the region.

The second session themed "Toxicological Studies in Risk Assessment" was co-chaired by Assoc. Prof. Trần Cao Sơn from NIFC of Vietnam and Dr. Pavel Shur, Director of the Environmental Safety Research Center of FBSI of Russia. Experts such as Dr. Oleg Dolgikh and Dr. Dmitrii Suvorov from FBSI delivered special reports on cutting-edge fields including the response mechanism of organisms to health risk factors and the design of toxicological studies for health risk assessment. Ms. Denise Bloch from BfR systematically shared a modern method system of next-generation food safety risk assessment for agricultural producers, providing international references for the safe production of agricultural food in Vietnam.

The third session focused on "Probabilistic Risk Assessment", co-chaired by Assoc. Prof. Trần Thị Định from the SAFEGRO Project and Dr. Nguyễn Việt Hùng. Mr. Rortana Chea from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Cambodia gave a special sharing on the risk assessment of Salmonella infection in Cambodia's meat value chain. Two scholars from NIFC of Vietnam, Mr. Nguyễn Tuấn Thành and Ms. Nguyễn Thị Hồng Ngọc, made in-depth elaborations on key local issues such as the exposure assessment of Salmonella and Campylobacter in chicken in Hanoi and surrounding areas, and the risk assessment of harmful substances in Vietnam's food processing. Dr. Matthias Greiner, Head of the Exposure Assessment Department of BfR, comprehensively analyzed the theoretical basis, practical application and future development trends of probabilistic modeling in exposure and risk assessment, providing technical support for the construction of Vietnam's quantitative food safety risk assessment system.

On December 19, the conference focused on the exchange of young scholars' achievements and was carried out in an orderly manner in the first and second halves. The first half was co-chaired by Prof. Nguyễn Công Khẩn and Dr. Lê Thị Phương Thảo. Local young Vietnamese scholars such as Ms. Lê Dương Diệu Hằng from Phenikaa University, Ms. Nguyễn Hà Anh from the Vietnam Academy of Traditional Medicine and Pharmacy, and Ms. Đặng Thị Thu Hiền from the Institute of Drug Quality Control Ho Chi Minh City shared phased research results on topics such as the optimization of PCR detection technology for Listeria in raw milk, the research on geographical origin classification of Vietnamese turmeric, and the molecular biological identification of probiotic strains of the genus Lactobacillus. The second half was co-chaired by Assoc. Prof. Phạm Thị Thanh Hà and Assoc. Prof. Trần Cao Sơn from NIFC of Vietnam. Young researchers including Ms. Nguyễn Thu Huyền and Ms. Vũ Hoàng Liên Hương from the University of Science, National University of Hanoi, and Ms. Nguyễn Phương Mai from NIFC of Vietnam conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges on hot food safety issues in Vietnam, such as the development of a selective fluorescence detection platform for chloramphenicol, the determination of ethylene oxide residues in dried fruits and vegetable products in Hanoi, the simultaneous detection technology of multiple antibiotic residues in eggs, and the assessment of nitrite content in street food (processed meat) and human exposure calculation. The successful holding of this conference introduced advanced concepts and technical methods in the global field of food safety risk assessment to Vietnam, and also built an academic platform for local young scholars to connect with international frontiers, which is of great significance for promoting the modernization of Vietnam's food safety management system.

Reference

https://nifc.gov.vn/en/other-conferences/international-conference-on-chemical-and-microbiological-risk-assessment-for-food-safety-post3532.html