Tighten every stage of production and circulation to prevent fake medicine and food.

Dr. Ta Manh Hung, Deputy Director of the Drug Administration ( Ministry of Health ) said that recently, the Ministry of Health has coordinated with relevant agencies to actively carry out many activities in the fight against counterfeit and poor quality drugs and has achieved many advances. However, violations related to the production and trade of counterfeit drugs have not been thoroughly handled; there are still cases occurring.

Immediately after the case of counterfeit drug production and trading was cracked down by the Thanh Hoa Police, the Prime Minister issued Official Dispatch No. 41/CD-TTg dated April 17, 2025 on handling the case of counterfeit drug production and trading, including counterfeit medicines and health protection foods; Official Dispatch No. 55/CD-TTg dated May 2, 2025 on strengthening coordination and strictly handling organizations and individuals involved in the production and trading of counterfeit medicines, fake milk and fake health protection foods. The Ministry of Health has sent a letter to the People's Committees of provinces and cities on strengthening the fight against counterfeit drugs and fake health protection foods; organized a meeting between units inside and outside the health sector to propose tasks for the fight against counterfeit drugs. Currently, the Ministry of Health is urgently developing a plan to implement Official Dispatch No. 41/CD-TTg of the Prime Minister.

However, the work of quality management and the fight against counterfeit drugs still has difficulties and shortcomings, such as the regulations on administrative sanctions for the production and trade of counterfeit goods, products of unknown origin, etc. have not yet ensured strictness and deterrence; not suitable for the level of danger and harm caused by the violation. The production and trade of counterfeit drugs is an illegal activity but brings high profits. Production is often done by organizations and individuals without expertise, underground production, without the need for factories or modern equipment... The subjects use many sophisticated tricks to conceal their violations, production is divided into many locations, using social networks to buy and sell to conceal the location.

Enterprises, especially drug retail establishments, have not fully complied with regulations on drug storage and trading from licensed establishments, and have not purchased drugs with invoices and documents identifying the origin of the drugs, leading to a decrease in drug quality; creating conditions for drugs of unknown origin and counterfeit drugs to penetrate the legal drug trading system.

Some people have the habit of buying and using medicine to treat their own illnesses based on the advice of acquaintances or advertisements without going to a medical facility or buying medicine from a legal drug supplier. Especially when buying medicine on social networks for self-treatment, there is a great risk of buying fake medicine or medicine of unknown origin...

Dr. Ta Manh Hung reported at the meeting.

The leaders of the Drug Administration Department proposed that ministries, branches and localities review legal regulations on handling and penalizing the production and trade of counterfeit drugs and drugs of unknown origin; increase administrative sanctions for violations of production and trade of counterfeit drugs and drugs of unknown origin (in cases where criminal proceedings are not yet required); apply additional penalties to organizations and individuals who buy and sell drugs without invoices and documents, trade in counterfeit drugs and drugs of unknown origin. Review regulations on the functions and responsibilities of ministries, branches, provincial and municipal People's Committees, commune and ward People's Committees to enhance the responsibility and management efficiency of agencies and units in the management, inspection and supervision of drug production and trading activities, prevention of production and trade of counterfeit drugs, drugs of unknown origin, drugs of poor quality, etc.

Continue to strictly implement Directive 17/CT-TTg dated June 19, 2018 of the Prime Minister on strengthening the fight against smuggling, trade fraud, production and trading of counterfeit and poor-quality goods in the group of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, functional foods, medicinal herbs and traditional medicine; Official Dispatch No. 41/CD-TTg dated April 17, 2025 and No. 55/CD-TTg dated May 2, 2025 of the Prime Minister.

The Ministry of Health coordinates with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to strengthen inspections of drug trading establishments, focusing on the origin of drugs; monitor and supervise advertising and trading activities of drugs and health protection products via the internet and social networks; promptly detect violations, coordinate with local information and communication management agencies to strictly handle them in accordance with the provisions of law.

Deploy research to develop a project to organize the Drug, Food and Cosmetic Management Agency under the Ministry of Health to enhance management capacity for drugs, food and cosmetics, and reduce overlap in management between units.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Hung Long, Deputy Director of the Food Safety Department, said that the situation of fake food is complicated and has been on the rise recently. In just over the first four months of 2025, the authorities have continuously discovered cases of large-scale and serious production and trading of fake food. In which, the police have prosecuted cases of production and trading of fake milk and fake health food.

The main reason for the production and trade of fake food is high profits while investment costs are low, causing many people to disregard the law to carry out this act.

Subjects take advantage of the current open management mechanism to produce fake food before circulating it on the market. Meanwhile, the level of violations in the industry is increasingly sophisticated to bypass authorities and deceive consumers: labeling products imported from the US, Europe but actually from another country or domestically produced with low quality; using fake labels and packaging similar to famous brands...

The conference is connected online with localities and units.

Regarding solutions to prevent fake food, Dr. Nguyen Hung Long said that in the coming time, the Ministry of Health will coordinate with ministries and branches to continue to improve legal policies on food safety: develop the revised Law on Food Safety; Decree amending Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Food Safety; study and propose to increase the level of sanctions for food safety violations; establish a national food safety data system connecting from the central to local levels to effectively manage and monitor food production and trading establishments.

At the same time, it is requested that the Ministry of Public Security promptly draw conclusions on cases of production and trade of fake food; the Ministry of Industry and Trade strengthen the direction of inspection and handling of violations in the production and trade of fake food, commercial fraud in the food market according to the assignment of state management responsibilities for food safety in Article 64 of the Law on Food Safety and Article 39 of Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP; strengthen the management of e-commerce platforms to prevent and stop the forgery of papers and documents of agencies and organizations for food trading.

The People's Committees of provinces and cities shall coordinate with the Investigation Police Agency - Ministry of Public Security to handle and resolve detected cases according to regulations; direct specialized units to strengthen post-inspection of products at risk of being counterfeited, especially products for sensitive subjects in the area, take samples to test safety indicators and quality indicators that enterprises have announced; strictly handle violations and immediately transfer to the police investigation agency if there are signs of criminality. Strengthen communication work, coordinate with press agencies and social networks to propagate the consequences of the production and consumption of counterfeit goods; instruct people on how to distinguish genuine goods from counterfeit goods, and at the same time increase awareness of crime denunciation from the community.

Permanent Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen spoke at the meeting.

Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen affirmed that fake food and medicine seriously affect people's health. In the recent past, the Prime Minister has issued 3 dispatches, directing ministries, branches, and People's Committees of provinces and cities to inspect, examine, investigate, and strictly handle organizations and individuals involved in the production and trade of fake medicine, fake milk, and fake food.

Based on a clear analysis of the shortcomings revealed in the past, ministries, branches and localities need to have more systematic solutions in the coming time, tightening management at each stage, from production, import to circulation and consumption.

The leaders of the Ministry of Health affirmed that the issue of food safety and medicine has been regulated (laws, decrees, guiding circulars), but violations have occurred recently. Therefore, it is necessary to review the system, what are the shortcomings to improve and supplement. Regarding implementation, it is the responsibility of localities, provinces and cities to organize and implement state management of medicine and food safety in the area.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/siet-chat-tung-khau-san-xuat-luu-thong-de-ngan-chan-thuoc-chua-benh-thuc-pham-gia-post877891.html