Dairy Association: Using fake milk can lead to serious consequences

Associate Professor Tran Quang Trung - Chairman of the Vietnam Dairy Association, said that on April 14, the Association sent a dispatch to the Ministry of Public Security , Ministry of Health, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and Ministry of Agriculture and Environment requesting to strengthen the prevention of counterfeit dairy products.

According to the Vietnam Dairy Association, recently, the production and trade of counterfeit, fake, and poor quality goods under the name of dairy products has been on the rise, becoming more complex and sophisticated, affecting the health of consumers, the reputation of businesses, as well as trust in the domestic dairy market.

Fake and low-quality milk products are mostly focused on products for children, pregnant women, the elderly, people with underlying diseases... and are often exploited for consumption through online distribution channels such as e-commerce platforms, social networks, livestreams... and are advertised as "miracle drugs", making it difficult for authorities to control and handle.

The Ministry of Public Security has investigated, prosecuted, and handled many cases of counterfeit milk production. In particular, it has recently prosecuted two large-scale counterfeit milk production enterprises at Hacofood Group Nutrition Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company and Rance Pharma International Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company with 573 products, the value of goods up to hundreds of billions of VND.

According to the Vietnam Dairy Association, the two above-mentioned enterprises are not members of the Association. In particular, the production, trading and use of fake milk can lead to serious consequences for the health of consumers, especially children, pregnant women, the elderly, people with underlying diseases...

Associate Professor Tran Quang Trung said that fake milk that does not ensure quality affects the physical and intellectual development of children, causing serious health problems for people with underlying diseases. Fake milk that does not ensure quality can contain toxic ingredients, causing acute or chronic poisoning, reducing the ability to absorb nutrients necessary for the body's development, causing consumers to face long-term health problems.

Besides, the production and trade of fake milk has lost consumer confidence, seriously affected genuine milk production enterprises, and affected the development of the Vietnamese dairy industry.

Therefore, the Vietnam Dairy Association hopes that the Ministry of Public Security and related ministries and branches will continue to direct the strengthening of management, inspection, examination, post-inspection, investigation, detection and destruction of production and trading lines and groups of fake and poor-quality milk nationwide.

The Vietnam Dairy Association is committed to closely coordinating with ministries and sectors in providing information, providing professional support and raising public awareness about the harmful effects of fake milk.

Recently, the Investigation Police Agency of the Ministry of Public Security is investigating the case of "Production and trading of counterfeit food products" occurring at Rance Pharma International Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, Hacofood Group Nutrition Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, and related agencies and organizations in Hanoi and provinces and cities nationwide.

The investigation agency determined that from 2021 to present, this group has produced up to 573 brands of powdered milk of various types, targeting consumers such as people with diabetes, kidney failure, premature babies, and pregnant women.

The subjects removed some input materials and replaced them with some additives. The police determined that the quality index of some ingredients in the powdered milk was below 70% of the declared level, which is enough to be considered counterfeit.

During the investigation, the police prosecuted and temporarily detained 8 suspects on two charges: "Production and trading of counterfeit food products" and "Violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences"./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/hiep-hoi-sua-su-dung-sua-gia-co-the-dan-den-nhung-hau-qua-nghiem-trong-post1027781.vnp