Clean Food in Contemporary Vietnamese Society

Background and objective: Food safety has emerged as one of the most pressing public concerns in contemporary Vietnam, where the proliferation of food scandals has eroded public trust in the food system. In this context, "clean food" has evolved beyond a technical category to become a cultural symbol associated with purity, modernity, moral responsibility, and social distinction. This study aims to examine how clean food is constructed, contested, and practiced within everyday life, and how it reflects broader transformations in morality, risk perception, and social relations in post-Đổi Mới Vietnam.Methods: This research employed a qualitative design combining discourse analysis, document review, field observations, and 15 in-depth interviews with urban consumers, farmers, food retailers, and clean-food entrepreneurs in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke), grounded in theoretical frameworks of discourse (Foucault), purity and pollution (Douglas), risk society (Beck), and ethical consumption (Faltmann).Results: Findings reveal that clean food functions as a multilayered cultural symbol shaped by overlapping discourses of safety, purity, modern lifestyle, and moral legitimacy. While clean food represents aspirations for health and modernity, it also exposes social tensions rooted in unequal access, urban-rural distrust, fragmented regulatory systems, and competing moral expectations among consumers, producers, and state actors. Interview data highlight how risk anxiety drives consumers to develop individualized strategies, such as buying from trusted networks, joining collective purchasing groups, or home-growing food, thereby privatizing risk and intensifying emotional and moral labor, particularly among women.Conclusion: Clean food in Vietnam encapsulates broader socio-cultural transformations, including the reconstruction of moral norms, the reconfiguration of trust, and the negotiation of responsibilities among individuals, markets, and state institutions. Understanding clean food as a cultural and moral phenomenon offers critical insights into the dynamics of risk, inequality, and ethical consumption in rapidly modernizing societies

Food safety · Grounded theory · Qualitative research · Thematic analysis · Vietnamese · Food Safety and Hygiene · Risk Perception and Management · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

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