Medicines, functional foods and milk are common items that seem indispensable in families. Based on these essential needs, many subjects have taken advantage of them to scam and profit from consumers.
Since the beginning of April, authorities have continuously dismantled large-scale production and trading lines of fake drugs, fake milk, and fake functional foods in Ho Chi Minh City, Thanh Hoa, Hanoi, etc., shocking many people.
For profit regardless of the law
Recently, the production and trade of fake food has become more complicated, with the production and trade of fake milk, fake MSG, fake cooking oil, fake health food, etc. emerging, causing public confusion. In the face of this situation, the Ministry of Health continues to request a focus on inspection and testing of the above items.
On May 6, the Ministry of Health informed that it had sent a document to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the People's Committees of provinces and cities on strengthening food safety management and preventing fake food.
Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan emphasized that recent counterfeit cases related to human health are very serious, especially counterfeit products directly related to children, sick people... who need special nutritional regimens.
“This is a very serious violation of business ethics by organizations and individuals who, for profit, disregard the provisions of the law and disregard the health of the people, joining hands to establish a network for profit. This is a highly condemnable act and needs to be strictly handled to serve as a lesson for individuals and organizations participating in the production and trading of food in general, functional foods, and health protection foods,” Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan pointed out.
Analyzing this issue, Associate Professor Dao Xuan Co - Director of Bach Mai Hospital said that the risk of fake drugs, health protection foods and functional foods infiltrating the hospital system is entirely possible. Therefore, hospitals must tighten management to ensure absolute safety for patients. Faced with the reality that more and more cases of counterfeit drugs, milk and functional foods being discovered with sophisticated tricks, the hospital has proactively reviewed the entire supply chain and in-house pharmacies to ensure absolute safety for patients.
The director of Bach Mai Hospital said that functional foods are not without value, but if not strictly controlled, abuse can cause patients to take risks and incur unnecessary costs.
According to Professor Tran Van Thuan, there are many objective and subjective reasons for such incidents, due to the ethical awareness of business participants, taking advantage of people's health for profit, besides, the resources involved in supervision are still thin, not meeting practical requirements. To overcome this, the Ministry of Health will coordinate with related ministries such as the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry and Trade... to jointly implement.
Profiteering with revenue of thousands of billions of dong
Looking back at the counterfeit cases discovered by authorities in recent times shows the large scale and surprisingly wide coverage.
In early April 2025, the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency dismantled a ring that produced, traded, and consumed a huge amount of fake milk powder in Hanoi and neighboring provinces. The police agency determined that from August 2021 to present, the subjects had established Rance Pharma International Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company and Hacofood Group Pharmaceutical Nutrition Joint Stock Company to produce and trade milk powder and had produced 573 brands of milk powder of all kinds for people with diabetes, kidney failure, premature babies, and pregnant women. The declared ingredients such as bird's nest extract, cordyceps, macca powder, walnut powder, etc. However, in reality, these substances are completely absent. Especially when the subjects of these items are children, sick people, and pregnant women.
Among nearly 600 fake milk labels of Hacofood Group and Rance Pharma, there are many products labeled as food products for special diets such as: Sure IQ Gludiabet milk, Sure IQ sure gold milk, or nutritional products such as Kid baby talacmum milk (for children from 0-12 months old), IQ Grow Talacmum for children from 1-15 years old, Gain Talacmum; Talacmum for mum food supplement...
The subjects removed some input materials and replaced them with some additives. The police determined that the quality index of some substances was below 70% of the declared level, which was enough to be determined as counterfeit goods. In addition to the two companies mentioned above that were established to organize the production of fake powdered milk products, the subjects also entered into joint ventures and partnerships in the form of contributing shares with many other subjects to establish 9 companies with the purpose of registering the declaration of product lines (product brand labels) and directly trading, distributing and consuming products manufactured at the factories of the two companies mentioned above.
For about 4 years, the subjects sold all kinds of milk to the market, bringing in revenue of about 500 billion VND.
While people were still shocked by fake milk, another case was discovered involving fake medicine on a "huge" scale. Thanh Hoa Provincial Police had just busted and arrested 14 people for the crime of manufacturing and trading fake medicine for disease prevention and treatment with a total volume of up to 10 tons, illegally earning nearly 200 billion VND.
Authorities seized tens of thousands of boxes of counterfeit drugs, production lines and machinery, along with many other pieces of evidence. The subjects operated with sophisticated methods and tricks, and were organized for a long time nationwide.
Through the search, the police seized 21 types of modern medicine and fake bone and joint medicine, including: 44 boxes of Tetracycline, 40 boxes of Clorocid, 49 boxes of Pharcoter, 52 boxes of Neo-Codion; 1,232 boxes of Rheumatoid Arthritis Pain Relief Pills; 4,122 boxes of Tui Hua Shen Jing Tong (commonly known as Sigapore Degeneration Medicine); 2,285 boxes of Cordyceps Ginseng Velvet and Spleen Relief Great Appetite Pills; 1,923 boxes of Profeessor's Pill (commonly known as Green Joints); 5,172 boxes of Mujarhabat Kapsul (commonly known as Green Joints); 2,017 boxes of Gai Cot Hoan; 930 boxes of Toa Cot Thien Ma Thong Phong Hoan; 6,612 boxes of Tuyet Lien Thien Ma Bao Khop Hoan; 1,014 boxes of Phong Te Dap Bach Xa Vuong; 4,743 boxes of Phong Te Dap Ho Cot Hoan; 845 boxes of sinus medicine; 4,012 boxes of neck and shoulder pills; 2,413 boxes of Yuan Bone medicine; 834 boxes of Thoai Cot Hoan Plus medicine; 515 boxes of Degenerative Joint Pain Medicine; 657 boxes of Degenerative Joint Pain Medicine.
In addition to the fake modern medicine and bone and joint medicine, the police also seized many types of raw materials for the production of fake medicine, including: more than 18,000 boxes of various types, 142 kg of pills, tablets, powders and many machines and equipment for production activities such as: production lines, presses, blister molds, adhesive tape and thousands of other medicinal products without invoices or documents proving their origin.
Then, on April 26, the Department of Investigation Police on Crimes of Corruption, Economy, and Smuggling (C03, Ministry of Public Security) continued to prosecute another case of manufacturing and trading counterfeit goods on a very large scale when the amount of functional foods seized reached over 100 tons.
C03 identified the ringleader as Nguyen Nang Manh - Director of MegaPhaco Company, Chairman of the Board of Directors (BOD) of MEDIUSA Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, headquartered in Hoang Mai District, Hanoi, and the subjects established businesses since 2015, including 6 companies. More than 900 health food brands were produced by the group, focusing on the elderly, children and pregnant women. The raw materials were announced by this company to be imported from the US and European countries, but in reality, most of the raw materials were imported from China.
The businesses include: 1 raw material import company, 2 manufacturing companies, 2 distribution companies and 1 packaging company that were set up by the subjects to legalize the process from input import to the consumption of fake functional foods nationwide.
The revenue of just one company in the system of 6 enterprises in this chain from 2021 to present has reached more than 800 billion VND.
Next is the case of manufacturing health protection foods, using fake test results to bring products to the market produced by Hirbitech Company Limited. Initial results so far, the Institute of Criminal Science of the Ministry of Public Security has issued an appraisal conclusion determining that two health protection products MEDI KID CALCIUM K2 and An ngon BABY SHARK are counterfeit.
According to Major General Hoang Anh Tuyen - Deputy Chief of Office, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security, the subjects set up 2 accounting systems, one system for tax declaration, showing the quantity of goods produced and traded much less than the actual. The second system was to track internal spending with full quantity of goods produced and traded, amount of money collected and no tax declaration.
Accordingly, the subjects left more than 121 billion VND off the accounting books. Initial determinations determined that the damage to the State budget was more than 10 billion VND in tax that should have been paid.
The above cases have been monitored by the Ministry of Public Security and relevant agencies for a long time and have continuously discovered and investigated cases of production and trade of fake drugs, fake milk and fake health protection foods on a large scale. In the face of the above situation, the Prime Minister requested the People's Committees of provinces and cities to organize peak periods to review and inspect the implementation of laws on pharmaceuticals and food safety./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/bang-hoang-khi-hang-loat-doi-tuong-loi-dung-suc-khoe-nguoi-dan-de-truc-loi-post1037006.vnp
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