Many loopholes make fake functional foods rampant
In addition to the case of nearly 600 fake milk brands being exposed, on April 26, the Ministry of Public Security continued to prosecute a large-scale case of counterfeit food production and trading, seizing more than 100 tons of products. This line has been in operation for nearly 10 years, closely organized from raw materials to distribution. Many businesses have taken advantage of the self-declaration mechanism to bring counterfeit goods to the market.
Colonel Nguyen Minh Tuan - Deputy Chief of Office of the Investigation Police Agency (Ministry of Public Security) warned that fake functional foods are rampant. The subjects self-declared, protected fake products and then promoted them widely, with the support of celebrities. They change labels, exaggerate publications, and take advantage of the laxity in post-inspections to expand scale. Colonel Tuan emphasized the need to tighten inspection and handling of these sophisticated fraud acts.
The case of fake milk has just been discovered by the authorities, Mr. Tran Huu Linh - Director of the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development - said that there are 3 reasons why the situation of fake milk production and trading has existed for a long time. First, businesses legalize documents and conceal quality violations, making it difficult to detect when there are no complaints. Second, the product is not sold through an official distribution channel but is marketed directly at seminars and hospitals, avoiding supervision. Third, hiring celebrities to promote on social networks makes it difficult for managers. The Ministry of Industry and Trade affirmed that it does not manage this group of fake milk products, while the Ministry of Health said it has decentralized management to localities.
Lack of periodic inspectors
In the recent fake milk case, according to the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade, these milk products belong to the group of functional foods, managed by the Ministry of Health and responsible for post-inspection. The Department of Industry and Trade did not accept the documents and had not inspected these two companies since 2021. Market management only checks when there are signs of violations, while business registration belongs to the Department of Planning and Investment. Hanoi Market Management has not inspected businesses trading in fake milk from 2021 to present.
Also in the fake milk case, Ho Sy Y (37 years old, from Ha Tinh) - shareholder and factory operator of Rance Pharma and Hacofood Company - admitted that all information and nutritional content used to produce powdered milk "not thoroughly checked, leading to serious errors". Dang Trung Kien (37 years old) - a shareholder, Deputy Director of Rance Pharma Company, Hacofood Company - stated that when completing the registration procedure, the department had testing instructions, but only focused on microbiological safety indicators. Adequate testing of nutrients is almost not done.
Registering for a functional food business is easy, just need to announce the product and the processing contract. Many small businesses take advantage of this loophole to mix ingredients of unknown origin, copy large brand labels, print fake stamps, fake packaging, and deceive consumers.
Inspection work is mainly carried out in installments, small establishments in residential areas are often less subject to surprise inspections. The subjects choose a loose time to increase the production of counterfeit goods. Decree 15/2018/ND-CP allows self-declaration after safety testing, but does not pass quality assessment, causing post-inspection to be passive and not be able to keep up with the market.
Dr. Tran Viet Nga - Director of the Department of Food Safety (Ministry of Health) - admitted that lack of resources makes post-inspection difficult. Amending Decree 15 is necessary but still has many problems.
Pharmaceutical Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hoang - Vice President of the Vietnam Functional Food Association - proposed requiring businesses to submit testing methods when self-declaration, creating a basis for periodic monitoring, and at the same time adjusting technical circulars to detect and handle violations faster.
The fake functional food market is increasingly sophisticated, seeping into life. When the law has not been adjusted, consumers continue to face the dangers of "health protection" products but silently destroy the body.
