Need stronger legal corridor for nutritional products - Lang Son Newspaper and Radio and Television

The market for functional foods and nutritional products in Vietnam is growing rapidly, but it also comes with risks if there is no effective monitoring system. The fake milk case worth hundreds of billions of VND that has just been cracked down by the Ministry of Public Security is not only a serious violation of the law but also a warning about management work and coordination responsibilities between management agencies.

Difficult to control synchronization

The case of a large-scale fake milk production line with a revenue of nearly 500 billion VND recently busted by the Ministry of Public Security, involving two companies: Rance Pharma International Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company ( Hanoi ) and Hacofood Group Pharmaceutical Nutrition Joint Stock Company (Hanoi), has raised serious concerns about state management of functional foods and nutritional products.

Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP dated February 2, 2018 of the Government "Detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Food Safety" stipulates that the state management authority over dairy products is clearly defined for each product group and specialized agency. Accordingly, The Ministry of Industry and Trade is responsible for managing the group of regular processed milk products.

Market management forces inspect dairy products and many other nutritional foods in Lang Son province. Photo: BAC SON

Meanwhile, the group of milk products supplemented with micronutrients, functional foods or pharmaceuticals with special nutritional ingredients is currently managed by the Ministry of Health. In addition, according to current regulations, the establishment and registration of business operations are carried out by the Department of Planning and Investment of provinces and centrally-run cities in accordance with the provisions of the Enterprise Law; the Ministry of Industry and Trade is not authorized to grant business registration certificates to enterprises and can only conduct inspections of these enterprises when detecting signs of violations within the scope of assigned functions and tasks.

“As for Hacofood Group Nutrition Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company and Rance Pharma International Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, these are enterprises that are not under the specialized management authority of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. According to current law, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is not allowed to conduct specialized inspections, periodic checks or post-inspections on the production and supply of milk of these two enterprises,” Mr. Tran Huu Linh, Director of the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development (Ministry of Industry and Trade) informed.

Urgent need for legal improvement

While the market for functional foods and nutritional products is expanding, tightening management and improving the effectiveness of inter-sectoral coordination cannot be delayed any longer.

Pointing out the main trick that makes some businesses have many lines of functional foods and nutritional products distributed widely but not detected violations for a long time, opinions say that the sophisticated trick of the violating businesses is to carry out full business procedures and documents, in accordance with current legal regulations to cover up product violations that can only be detected when tested. The products have not received any complaints of violations from consumers.

Along with that, these businesses choose to sell products that are not distributed through supermarket systems, official agents or controlled retail chains, but are mainly consumed through marketing and directly sold to consumers through blending in and disguising themselves in specialized seminars, hospitals and clinics. Notably, businesses also hire a number of celebrities, movie actors, models who have influence on society and the online community to advertise and sell directly to consumers through advertising channels on social networks such as YouTube, Facebook, Zalo... to avoid and make it difficult for the supervision and inspection work of functional agencies.

According to Mr. Tran Huu Linh, in order to strengthen the management of the milk market, in the coming time, the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development will closely direct local market management departments to strengthen inspection and supervision of the circulation and distribution of dairy products, especially at small retail channels, unofficial agents, e-commerce platforms and social networks, where there are many potential risks of counterfeit goods, goods of unknown origin, and poor quality goods.

In parallel with the field inspection, the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development will continue to collect feedback from consumers, and coordinate with the health sector (for quality, standards and food safety) and the agriculture sector (for raw milk and agricultural products) to establish effective solutions to prevent the circulation of fake milk and milk that does not ensure quality on the market.

Through this process, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will conduct a comprehensive review and assessment of the management of goods circulation for dairy products, focusing on identifying loopholes after the distribution stage, thereby proposing to perfect the inter-sectoral coordination mechanism, enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency in inspecting and handling acts of commercial fraud, false advertising and food safety violations.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/can-hanh-lang-phap-ly-manh-hon-cho-san-pham-dinh-duong-5045884.html