Clearing warehouses, stealing expired fish sauce into the environment
On June 23, Quang Nam Provincial Police said that they had identified the tenant and the person who directly dumped nearly 1,000 bottles of expired fish sauce in the dusty area along Phu Ninh Irrigation Canal, Tam Thai Commune, Phu Ninh District.
With only 400,000 VND to hire people to clean up the warehouse, a shipment of nearly 1,000 bottles of expired fish sauce and dipping sauce was secretly dumped into the environment, leaving environmental consequences and forcing authorities to investigate.
Accordingly, Mr. N.H.T (residing on Hung Vuong Street, Tam Ky City, Quang Nam) was identified as the person who hired two seasonal workers, N.P.T.V and V.V.N, through social networks to clean up the warehouse containing the batch of expired fish sauce and dipping sauce. The entire warehouse relocation was agreed upon at 400,000 VND.
Instead of bringing the goods to the destination for destruction in accordance with regulations, these two people secretly brought all 950 bottles of fish sauce and dipping sauce to the dusty area near Phu Ninh irrigation canal to dump, causing a strong stench and polluting neighboring residential areas.
The shipment that was dumped was determined to be produced by Thanh Hoa Seafood Processing Joint Stock Company (in Thanh Hoa), part of the experimental product line named Kapok, but was unsuccessful.
Expanding investigation, verifying responsibilities of all parties
The company representative said that this shipment was brought to Quang Nam from 2023 to survey the market, but due to unfavorable feedback and unable to consume the products, the company stopped production and requested dealers not to sell them on the market and to destroy them themselves according to regulations.
However, the company affirmed that it did not direct the theft, and said that it had stopped production since April 2025 due to many financial difficulties, social insurance debts, corporate income tax debts and fact fact fact fact fact compliance.
According to Mr. Le Hung Quang - Director of Thanh Hoa Seafood Processing Joint Stock Company, in 2023, the company signed a contract to supply about 2,000 bottles of fish sauce (worth 40 million VND) to Phuong Nhi fish sauce business establishment in Quang Nam.
Due to slow consumption, in early 2024, this establishment proposed to return the goods. The company has received a portion of the product and refunded about 20 million VND. The company was not notified and its inventory status was unclear.
When the incident happened on the evening of June 18 - people in Phuoc Loc village (Tam Thai commune, Phu Ninh district) discovered thousands of fish sauce bottles thrown on the side of the road - Mr. Quang said that the facility still kept a large quantity of products.
Quang Nam Provincial Police are coordinating with Thanh Hoa Provincial authorities to verify the legality of the enterprise, and clarify the responsibilities of buyers, those who commit dumping acts and the production unit.
The incident caused public outrage when for just a contract to clean up a cheap warehouse of 400,000 VND, a whole batch of food waste was dumped in violation of regulations, affecting the environment and damaging the image of traditional products.
The authorities affirmed that they will strictly handle illegal discharge, while tightening management in recalling and destroying expired products to protect the environment and public health.
