Lesson 2: Thousands of tricks to consume fake milk, fake medicine, fake food

(Chinhphu.vn) – For the profit from hundreds of billions of dong in revenue, these subjects have taken advantage of the openness and created conditions for businesses to carry out all kinds of tricks in the production and trade of counterfeit goods.

Police are investigating 573 products of a fake milk production line.

A series of cases were exposed, many subjects were prosecuted.

In early April 2025, the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency dismantled a large-scale production, trading and consumption of fake milk powder in Hanoi and neighboring provinces. Accordingly, from August 2021 to present, the subjects have established Rance Pharma International Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company and Hacofood Group Nutrition Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company to produce and trade up to 573 brands of milk powder for people with diabetes, kidney failure, premature babies and pregnant women...

It is worth mentioning that the declared ingredients of the milk include: bird's nest extract, cordyceps, macca powder, walnut powder... but the subjects have removed some of the input materials and replaced and added some additives.

The police determined that the quality indicators of some substances in the powdered milk were below 70% of the announced level, enough to be identified as counterfeit goods.

In addition to the above two companies, the subjects also entered into joint ventures and partnerships in the form of contributing shares with many other subjects to establish 9 other companies with the purpose of registering the product lines (product brand labels) and directly trading, distributing and consuming products manufactured at the factories of the above two companies.

For about 4 years, the subjects have brought fake powdered milk products to the market with a revenue of about 500 billion VND.

Another case involving large-scale counterfeit drugs has just been busted by Thanh Hoa Provincial Police, arresting 14 subjects for the crime of manufacturing and trading counterfeit disease prevention and treatment drugs with a total volume of up to 10 tons. The subjects illegally earned nearly 200 billion VND.

The subjects operate with sophisticated methods and tricks, and are organized over a long period of time, nationwide.

Herbitech Company's counterfeit products were identified as counterfeit.

Recently, on April 26, the Department of Investigation Police on Crimes of Corruption, Economy , and Smuggling (C03, Ministry of Public Security) also initiated a case of large-scale production and trade of counterfeit goods with over 100 tons of functional foods seized.

The Ministry of Public Security determined that the subjects had established 6 businesses since 2015. More than 900 health food brands were produced by the subjects, focusing on the needs of the elderly, children and pregnant women. From 2021 to now, the revenue of just 1 of these 6 businesses alone has been more than 800 billion VND.

Next is the case of producing health protection foods, using fake test results to bring products to the market produced by Hirbitech Company Limited.

At the regular Government press conference in April 2025, Major General Hoang Anh Tuyen, Deputy Chief of Office and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security, informed about the progress of investigations into cases of fake milk, fake medicine and fake functional foods.

As of April 29, the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency has prosecuted and temporarily detained 15 subjects to investigate the acts of producing and trading counterfeit goods and food; violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences; fraud, appropriation of property; bribery and bribery brokerage.

Regarding the case of manufacturing and trading counterfeit goods, medicines for treatment and prevention of diseases in Thanh Hoa province and many provinces and cities nationwide, by April 29, the Investigation Police Agency of Thanh Hoa province issued a decision to prosecute the case and prosecute 14 subjects for the crime of manufacturing and trading counterfeit medicines for treatment and prevention of diseases.

Regarding the case of producing health protection foods, using fake test results to bring products to the market produced by Herbitech Company Limited, on April 28, the Investigation Police Agency of the Ministry of Public Security issued a decision to prosecute the accused, an arrest warrant for temporary detention, and a search warrant for the residence of 4 accused including: Pham Vu Khiem, Director of Herbitech Company Limited, Vuong Thi Hoa, Le Thi Hong Van, Bui Thi Thu Ha, Chief Accountant, or in charge of Accounting of Herbitech Company from 2021 to present, with the same charge of violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences.

Ms. Tran Viet Nga, Director of the Department of Food Safety, Ministry of Health - Photo: VGP/TH

  Taking advantage of favorable conditions for businesses

In the food sector, Ms. Tran Viet Nga, Director of the Department of Food Safety, Ministry of Health, said that Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP of the Government stipulates the mechanism for self-declaration of products, creating favorable conditions for enterprises to self-declare and take responsibility for the quality and safety of products. However, some enterprises have taken advantage of this mechanism to do illegal business.

With the self-declaration mechanism, businesses can self-declare and produce products without having to have the state management agency review the documents. Taking advantage of this openness, some businesses self-declare medical nutritional products or products for special diets, especially food supplements. This is a law-evading behavior that deserves condemnation.

In addition, the procedure for self-declaration of products is quite simple, the documents are not complicated and there is no fee. Therefore, many businesses rush to self-declare their products, but the actual production and business quantity may not match the declared quantity, causing difficulties for state management agencies in inspection and post-audit.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan, the policy of self-declaration is to cut down on administrative procedures, creating favorable conditions for businesses in accordance with the advanced management methods of developed countries. However, in reality, some organizations and individuals take advantage of this mechanism to produce and trade poor quality products.

Currently, each year there are about 23,800 foods self-declaring their products, of which nearly 4,800 products self-declaring themselves as dietary supplements; about 9,200 foods registering product declarations, of which about 8,800 are health protection foods, nearly 100 are medical nutritional foods and more than 300 are foods for special diets.

Fake milk brands sold on the market in the past 4 years

  Carry out full paperwork to cover up the violation

Regarding the large-scale fake milk production line that was dismantled by the Ministry of Public Security with a revenue of nearly 500 billion VND occurring at Rance Pharma International Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company and Hacofood Group Nutrition Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, Mr. Tran Huu Linh, Director of the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, also said that the enterprises carried out full and legal business procedures and documents to cover up violations of fake products that could only be detected during testing.

In particular, these businesses do not choose distribution channels through supermarket systems, official agents or controlled retail chains, but mainly market and sell directly to consumers by blending in and disguising themselves in specialized seminars, hospitals and clinics.

Businesses also hire some famous people... to advertise and sell directly to consumers through social networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Zalo... to avoid and make it difficult for the supervision and inspection work of authorities.

Evidence of fake medicine case seized by Thanh Hoa Police

  Use pharmacist cover

Regarding the methods of producing and trading fake drugs on the market, Dr. Ta Manh Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Drug Administration, Ministry of Health, said that the subjects participating in the ring have close connections and collusion with each other from the production stage to the stage of finding distribution channels, to bring fake goods to the market and to consumers.

Under the "cover" of being a pharmacist selling drugs for pharmaceutical companies, these subjects, through social networking sites such as Zalo, Facebook, etc., advertise drugs from genuine companies that are "smuggled" from contractors or that sell out of the region, and cannot issue invoices, so they sell them cheaper than genuine products from the companies.

For counterfeit products of foreign origin, the subjects introduce them as "hand-carried" goods, so there are no accompanying invoices or documents, to gain the trust of buyers. In the stage of building trust, the subjects often buy real drugs mixed with fake drugs produced by the subjects and sold on the market, to cope with inspections by authorities.

After having a certain number of customers, the subjects only sell self-produced fake drugs, most of the customers are aimed at the group of pharmacists who sell drugs freely at the drug markets.

At the national online meeting on strengthening the fight against fake drugs, cosmetics and health protection foods organized by the Ministry of Health on May 7, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said that in 2024, the health sector's testing system took over 43,000 drug samples and discovered 228 substandard samples, 23 samples suspected of being fake drugs, including oriental medicine mixed with banned substances.

Regarding food safety, in 2024, the Ministry of Health handled 6,658 violating establishments nationwide, with a fine of 33.5 billion VND. Since the beginning of the year, the number of establishments sanctioned is 4,143 with a fine of more than 20.1 billion VND.

According to the leader of the Ministry of Health, in the field of food safety, we have a relatively complete system of legal documents, including the Law on Food Safety, Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP, and technical regulations of ministries and branches.

In the field of counterfeit goods, Decree No. 98/2020/ND-CP of the Government also clearly stipulates counterfeit goods and sanctions. The Penal Code also has separate provisions on criminal handling of counterfeit food.

However, cases related to counterfeit goods continue to develop in a complicated manner. According to Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen, there are two possibilities. First, the system is not yet complete, and second, the system is complete but the implementation has problems.

"If it is due to the system, we must definitely make amendments and supplements, especially in the context that the health sector is taking the lead, collecting opinions and soon submitting to the Government to issue a decree amending Decree 15/2018/ND-CP detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Food Safety; preparing documents to amend the Law on Pharmacy; amending 7 circulars related to this issue. From there, we will provide immediate and long-term solutions for implementation," Deputy Minister Do Xuan Tuyen emphasized.

Thuy Ha

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/bai-2-muon-van-thu-doan-tieu-thu-sua-gia-thuoc-gia-thuc-pham-gia-102250508203913459.htm