Lam Dong Province police have just discovered a series of agricultural businesses that have used red soil to mix into Chinese potatoes , turning them into "Da Lat potatoes" and selling them on the market.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Chinese potatoes have been "transformed" into Dalat potatoes — this situation has existed for the past 15 years. Not only potatoes, other agricultural products such as carrots and onions have also been "transformed" similarly.
More than 10 years ago, Lao Dong Newspaper had a long-term reportage following Chinese agricultural products from the northern border gates, through Lam Dong, then spreading to the South, Central and even the North for consumption.
This "transformation" process is the process of covering the trunk or roots of agricultural products with red soil as a "guarantee" of their origin from Da Lat.
The incident was later "discovered" by the authorities and they intervened, punishing a number of dishonest traders. In this case, the authorities also intervened, stemming from investigations and reports from several newspapers.
So the question is: Why have these traders "transformed" Chinese agricultural products into Da Lat agricultural products for such a long time, in such large quantities, almost openly, but the authorities still cannot completely handle it?
Are the measures to monitor and deal with this problem as they have been for a long time really effective? And are the authorities powerless to deal with this problem?
It must be affirmed that "transforming" Chinese agricultural products into Da Lat agricultural products and selling them on the market at a cheaper price than the original Da Lat agricultural products is an act of brand counterfeiting, fraudulent business, and unacceptable.
This is an act that benefits oneself but harms others, causing genuine farmers in Lam Dong to suffer because their products cannot compete with fake products labeled as Da Lat.
Consumers across the country often "eat bitter fruit" without knowing it, because real and fake Da Lat agricultural products are very different in quality and food safety.
If this problem is not thoroughly handled, consumer confidence in the Da Lat agricultural product brand will be seriously damaged, negatively affecting the sustainable development of the agricultural sector, not only in Lam Dong.
The latest discovery in Don Duong and Duc Trong districts of Lam Dong will continue to be a wake-up call, so that this painful problem will be taken more seriously by the authorities, and they will intervene more regularly, strongly, proactively, and decisively to come up with a solution to completely handle the situation of foreign agricultural products "labeled" as Da Lat being released into the market.
