More than 900 product brands
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong - former Director of the Department of Food Safety (Ministry of Health) was temporarily detained on charges of accepting bribes related to a fake food ring.
This is a move in the process of expanding the investigation of the case of production and trading of fake functional foods at MediPhar Joint Stock Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company and related units. The investigation agency determined that the officers of the Food Safety Department received "lobby" money for appraisal, post-inspection, and issuance of 4 GMP Certificates and 207 product declaration licenses to 9 companies of Nguyen Nang Manh.
Since 2016, Manh and his accomplices have operated a large-scale system of fake functional food production and consumption, with many violations in the appraisal and licensing process. Regarding GMP appraisal alone, the inspection team chaired by the Department of Food Safety received more than 1 billion VND to reduce errors and guide the remediation of forms.
In addition, more than 2 billion VND has been spent to "run" 207 product declaration licenses. Counterfeit products have a great impact on consumer health and cause public outrage.
Large scale, sophisticated production
On April 26, C03 Ministry of Public Security prosecuted the case of large -scale fake functional food production and trading, seizing more than 100 tons of goods. Nguyen Nang Manh - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mediusa - and his accomplice accused of the leader of this line.
The group established many companies, divided into implementations from production, packaging, printing to distribution. Counterfeit goods are processed in unsanitary conditions, without inspection, floating ingredients from China but are labeled as "American goods", "Japanese goods". Some products only reach less than 30% of the announced content.
The target is the elderly, children, pregnant women - the group that is easily convinced by advertisements for " bones and joints supplementation" and "improving health". The products have eye-catching packaging, fake anti-counterfeit stamps, and fake inspection certificates. When discovered, this group spread goods, destroyed raw materials, and closed the factory.
Although promoting imported raw materials from the US and Europe, most of them are from China. More than 900 fake brands are sold through drug markets, pharmacies and retail pharmacies. The subjects also used fake test results to legalize quality declaration procedures, while the actual product did not meet standards. A company's revenue has exceeded VND800 billion since 2021.
To be granted GMP certificate, Nguyen Nang Manh and Do Manh Hoang spent more than 1 billion VND for the inspection team. Thanks to that, the two factories in Phu Nghia Industrial Park (Hanoi) of MEDIUSA and MediPhar were licensed by the Food Safety Department in August and December 2020, despite many violations.
According to regulations, the factory must have a valid GMP certificate and the product must be announced with quality standards. However, this group has "circumvented the law" by operating a counterfeit production process under the ideal legal framework that is not valid.
MEDIUSA is licensed to produce tablets, capsules, green rice, powder, syrups, solutions and microbiotics. MediPhar produces softcaps, liquid products and probiotics. But in reality, both have become " headquarters" in the production of fake functional foods - legal labels but poor quality - seriously threatening public health.
