On October 2, 2026, Vietnamese media reported that the Ministry of Health had demanded Shopee remove the listing for 'An Cung Niu Huang Wan (10 tablets in a wooden box)' — a traditional Chinese medicine product that was being sold as an ordinary item on the country's largest marketplace. This is not an isolated incident but another point in the regulator's systematic campaign against unregistered health products on e-commerce platforms.
WHAT HAPPENED
The Vietnamese Ministry of Health's demand concerns a specific SKU — 'An Cung Niu Huang Wan,' a tablet-form traditional Chinese medicine product in wooden packaging. Formally, it looks like a targeted measure, but behind it is a well-established mechanism: the Food Safety Authority under the Ministry of Health (Cục An toàn thực phẩm, VFA) has been conducting consistent work since 2025 to clean marketplaces of products without registration documents.
The timeline shows the scale. On November 11, 2025, the VFA issued an official document demanding that Shopee immediately remove from sale 'Giảm cân 12kg MINAMI giảm mỡ bụng' — a weight-loss product for which the authority had not issued a 'Giấy tiếp nhận đăng ký bản công bố sản phẩm' (product registration receipt). Earlier, in 2025, official letter Công văn 1097/ATTP-SP listed a whole series of product names — Omega 3-6-9 1600mg, Natto Kinase 4000fu, Estroven, and others — found on Shopee without registration documents; sellers were given until May 30, 2025, to report back.
On August 5, 2026, the Vietnamese government's press service (Chinhphu.vn) reported that the VFA had demanded Shopee and Lazada urgently stop trading the product Slimaura Care x3 because it was advertised without obtaining the mandatory registration document. And on August 29, 2026, industry publication Healthcare Insights reported that the VFA had ordered the removal from Shopee of 11 food supplement products at once — most under the OstroVit brand — with a deadline for inspection by Hanoi authorities until September 15, 2026. So by the time of the news about 'An Cung Niu Huang Wan,' the regulator had already accumulated a practice of mass delistings.
WHAT IT MEANS
For a Russian e-commerce entrepreneur working with Vietnam or planning to enter, this is a signal of the maturity of the regulatory environment. Vietnam is no longer a market where supplements and traditional remedies can be uploaded to a marketplace 'as is.' The key document is the 'Giấy tiếp nhận đăng ký bản công bố sản phẩm,' a registration confirmation that the VFA issues for each product. Without it, a listing survives until the first check, and checks have become systematic: the VFA cross-references registration numbers with its own registry and identifies fakes. In the case of 'Giảm cân 12kg MINAMI,' the authority explicitly stated that number 5438/2024/ĐKSP dated July 12, 2024, does not correspond to the document issued for that product.
The second layer is categorical. Not only classic supplements but also traditional medicines are being targeted, which sellers often perceive as 'herbal products outside regulation.' 'An Cung Niu Huang Wan' is exactly such a case: a Chinese medicine product that looked like a harmless item on the marketplace but from the perspective of Vietnamese law requires registration. The categories 'Sức Khỏe' and 'Thực phẩm chức năng' on Shopee Vietnam are commercially active — since May 23, 2026, the marketplace updated its fixed commission structure, setting a rate of 17% for certain supplement subcategories. But high margins coexist with high regulatory risk.
The third layer is the discrepancy between requirement and reality. Official VFA letters and government publications from 2025-2026 record requirements and deadlines, but Shopee's search results for queries like 'thuốc tăng cân' still show active listings in health categories. This means the platform does not always keep up with the regulator, and a seller who 'hasn't been caught yet' might mistakenly conclude that the rules don't apply to them. Practice shows the opposite: delistings come in waves, and the next wave could hit your category.
The fourth layer is consequences. Removing a listing is not just losing inventory and rating. It is the risk of fines, store blocking, and reputational damage to the brand if it is sold through multiple accounts. For Russian entrepreneurs building a long-term channel in Vietnam, what matters more is not a one-time sale but a sustainable listing with verifiable documentation.
VIETSMART EXPERT COMMENTARY
Our team in Ho Chi Minh City regularly sees the same mistake: a seller comes with a product that 'is already being sold by competitors on Shopee' and concludes that registration is not needed. The logic 'if they have it up, then it's allowed' does not work here. Competitors may be in the process of being delisted, or they may be using fake registration numbers — precisely such cases the VFA identifies during cross-checks of the registry. We always ask the client to first verify the 'Giấy tiếp nhận đăng ký bản công bố sản phẩm' number in the VFA database, and only then calculate the economics of the listing.
If we were in the Russian entrepreneur's shoes, we would act as follows: before purchasing a batch — check whether the supplier has a valid registration for each product name, not for a 'line'; before launching on Shopee — make sure the document is issued specifically for that SKU and specifically to that legal entity; after launching — keep scans ready for a VFA request. This is cheaper than dealing with delisting and fines after the fact.
CONCLUSIONS AND WHAT TO DO
- Request from your supplier the 'Giấy tiếp nhận đăng ký bản công bố sản phẩm' number for each SKU and independently verify it in the VFA registry (vfa.gov.vn). Do not accept a scan without a number and date — the VFA specifically identifies fake numbers.
- Check whether your product falls under the 'Thực phẩm chức năng' category even if you consider it a traditional remedy or herbal blend. The 'An Cung Niu Huang Wan' case shows that Chinese medicine also requires registration.
- Do not rely on the presence of similar listings from competitors. According to official VFA letters and Chinhphu.vn publications from 2025-2026, delistings come in waves, and a product 'hanging' at a neighbor's store is not proof of legality.
- Include a regulatory checklist in your unit economics. Since May 23, 2026, Shopee Vietnam applies a fixed commission of 17% for certain supplement subcategories — add to this the cost of registration and the risk of fines, which must be accounted for in advance.
- Keep documentation ready for a request. The VFA sets specific reporting deadlines (for example, until May 30, 2025, under Công văn 1097/ATTP-SP) — if you don't have scans on hand, you won't be able to respond on time.
Source: Vietnam.vn dated October 2, 2026