On July 26, 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Decision No. 2913/QĐ-BNN-QLCL, repealing Decision No. 5136/QĐ-BNN-QLCL dated December 1, 2014, on the implementation of enhanced food safety inspection measures for bivalve mollusks and processed bivalve mollusk products NT2MV exported to the EU.

Accordingly, the measures for verifying the heat treatment process and sampling for microbiological criteria of each NT2MV shipment exported to the EU have been abolished. To continue complying with regulations on seafood exports to the EU, NT2MV shipments and heat-treated NT2MV products exported to this market must be sampled and tested according to the regulations in Circular No. 48/2013/TT-BNNPTNT dated November 12, 2013, Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BNNPTNT dated February 13, 2017, and Circular No. 16/2018/TT-BNNPTNT dated October 29, 2018, of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The microbiological criteria for testing include E. coli, Salmonella, and Coagulase-positive staphylococci (sample size, limit levels, and analysis methods) according to Regulation (EC) No. 1441/2007 dated December 5, 2007, of the European Commission.