Bitney and the lesson of laxity in the management of functional foods

(Baothanhhoa.vn) - The recent dismantling of a transnational multi-level functional food business network by the Phu Tho Provincial Police in coordination with the Ministry of Public Security has attracted great public attention. With more than 107,000 Vietnamese people participating and a total of nearly 200,000 members in the entire system, illegally profiting thousands of billions of VND, this is considered an unprecedented large-scale case in the field of illegal multi-level marketing in Vietnam.

Bitney's unlicensed multi-level model was once warned by the Competition Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade .

More worryingly, the products consumed in this network are all functional foods of unknown origin, even containing banned substances, posing a direct risk to the health of users. This incident once again raises questions about the effectiveness and strictness in the management of functional foods - a rapidly growing business sector but with many loopholes that are easily exploited.

The network that was just busted was led by Tat Van Hao (residing in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City) and Lim Choon Foong (Malaysian nationality). Under the name of Bitney Vietnam Investment Trading Company Limited, these subjects put into consumption a series of products such as Multi Juice mixed fruit juice, Lucenta deer placenta, Bitney Multi Cream... according to the binary model, attracting network participants by the form of multi-level rewards.

From 2019 until the time of its dismantling, this line had sold millions of products without a valid multi-level marketing license. What is alarming is that some products - specifically Multi Juice and Lucenta - were found to contain the active ingredient Tadalafil. This is a banned substance in food production and can only be used when prescribed. Bitney's ecosystem also includes a series of affiliated companies, established in many provinces such as Bitney Vietnam Investment Service Trading Company Limited and Bitney House Company Limited. In particular, these enterprises showed signs of unusually reducing their charter capital from tens of billions of VND to several hundred million VND in a short period of time, raising suspicions of asset dissipation and evasion of legal responsibility.

The strong growth of the functional food market in recent years is undeniable. The increasing demand for health care and the trend of consuming supplementary products, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, has created conditions for this industry to expand rapidly. However, this "hot" development is surpassing the control speed of functional agencies. In fact, for a functional food product to be circulated in Vietnam, businesses only need to declare quality standards to the Ministry of Health without having to go through strict testing processes like medicine. This is the key point that makes it easy for many poor quality products, of unknown origin, even containing banned substances, to penetrate the market. Meanwhile, post-announcement inspection is not consistent and not really effective.

On the other hand, the current management mechanism of multi-level marketing models still has many shortcomings. Many businesses operate under the disguised multi-level marketing model, without registration or registration but not complying with legal conditions, still openly recruiting, training agent systems and organizing seminars on "health care" and "startup investment" to attract participants. The coordination between functional sectors, from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Health, to the police force and market management, is still not really tight and effective.

Unlike common financial scams, unlicensed multi-level marketing lines of functional foods leave double consequences: they both damage people's property and threaten the health and lives of users. Many elderly people and people with chronic diseases become "double victims" when they lose money because they believe in "miracle drug" advertisements, and have to bear the additional burden of illness because they use unsafe products. In particular, the form of organizing seminars, giving out free samples, taking advantage of images of celebrities, fake doctors... to build trust and stimulate consumption makes it even more difficult for people to distinguish between real and fake.

The Bitney case is not only a case of transnational fraud, but also a warning lesson about institutional loopholes in the supervision of the functional food market. To protect people's health and improve the business environment, we cannot stop at just cracking down on the case, but must build a proactive, transparent and strong enough management and supervision system to prevent at the root the models that take advantage of consumers' trust for profit.

Tung Lam

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/bitney-va-bai-hoc-ve-su-long-leo-nbsp-trong-quan-ly-thuc-pham-chuc-nang-250401.htm