Hung Yen Provincial Police have just dismantled a particularly large-scale production and consumption ring of fake oil, with the amount of counterfeit goods reaching tens of thousands of tons. To cover the eyes of the authorities, the team of plotters designed an underground pipeline system, pumping raw materials for livestock and seafood into fuel tanks, then labeling Ofood - a brand of Nhat Minh Food Production and Import-Export Company Limited.
According to the statement, this oil source is mainly sold to industrial kitchens, restaurants, and craft villages that produce candy, bim, and snacks. Even the product advertisement lists vitamin A supplements, but the test results did not detect this substance.
In addition to Nhat Minh Food, An Hung Phuoc Import-Export Trading Company Limited - one of the largest vegetable oil importers in the country - also participated. In the past three years, the revenue of the entire system has reached more than VND 8,200 billion.
The investigation agency seized more than 1,000 tons of smuggled oil, prosecuted three defendants at the beginning of the case for the crimes of manufacturing, trading in counterfeit goods and smuggling. The subjects illegally benefited from the price difference between cooking oil for humans and animal oil (higher than 17%), while also evading value added tax (8% for cooking oil, 0% for animal oil).
Unbelievable but real: the oil used to prepare animal feed has been brazenly "transformed" into cooking oil for humans, penetrating into collective kitchens, restaurants, and food processing villages everywhere.
On the evening of June 24, a representative of the Department of Food Safety (Ministry of Health) said that according to the provisions of Article 39 of Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP of the Government, vegetable oils belong to the group of products under the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for state management of food safety, including the entire production, processing, trading and circulation chain in the market.
In response to information that some establishments were discovered to be using imported cooking oil for the purpose of using animal feed for production and processing into cooking oil for processing food for humans, the Food Safety Department warned that this is a serious violation of regulations on food safety, potentially affecting public health.
To prevent risks and ensure the safety of consumers, the Food Safety Department recommends that food production and trading establishments, especially collective kitchens and ready-made food suppliers:
Food processing facilities and collective kitchens need to require suppliers to clarify the declaration documents and raw material documents of the product, not just relying on packaging and labels.
Do not use ingredients that are not advertised for food processing, even if there are enough invoices and documents.
When detecting suspicions, promptly inform the authorities for handling according to regulations
Compliance with the correct purpose of use of food ingredients is not only a technical requirement, but also a mandatory legal responsibility. Any act of deliberately using ingredients that are not in accordance with the registered purpose for food processing, especially in cases where ingredients do not ensure safety for consumers, will be considered and strictly handled by competent authorities according to the provisions of law.
