Functional foods, fish sauce, and whole boxed goods are dumped in landfills: The purge of fake goods

In recent days, on many roads and landfills in localities, people have been surprised to discover a series of products that were advertised as "miracle drugs", "specialties", "traditional fish sauce"... being illegally dumped and thrown away.

Quang Ninh authorities count the amount of functional foods thrown in the landfill - Photo: DONG BAC

Among them, many are functional foods, cosmetics, medicines and consumer goods, with names that have caused a "fever" on social networks. This is no longer an isolated phenomenon, but a "dark side" clearly revealed in the month of action against counterfeit and fake goods launched by the Prime Minister .

Billions in revenue go to 'roadside landfill'

A typical recent incident in Ninh Binh when TikToker "Gia Dinh Hai Sen", with more than 2.6 million followers, was arrested by the police to investigate the act of trading in counterfeit goods and goods of unknown origin.

According to initial information, hundreds of unlicensed functional food and cosmetic products were sold under the "friendly, close" image of this family. When being investigated, this TikToker destroyed the evidence by burning the goods near his house.

Also recently, in the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City, authorities also discovered thousands of functional food products scattered along the roadside.

These products are mainly brain supplements, vitamins, bone and joint supplements for children, the sick, pregnant women, produced and under the responsibility of many pharmaceutical companies in Hanoi. Even products advertised as "imported raw materials from the US, expensive value" have become waste.

After that, the investigation agency clarified that more than 3,400 boxes of functional foods were dumped because they were imported from 2 companies that were being handled by the Ministry of Public Security for trading in fake functional foods.

Or in Quang Ninh, recently, authorities also discovered thousands of unused functional food boxes filling up a landfill. Among them, there were mainly syrups, bird's nest drinks, cordyceps, vitamin supplements...

Not only medicine, functional food or cosmetics…, recently, at Phu Ninh canal, Quang Nam, thousands of intact bottles of fish sauce were thrown away in the grass by the roadside. These products have unknown origins.

Images of functional food boxes thrown on the roadside, fish sauce rolling around among household waste... reflect that there are many fake, poor quality, and unknown origin goods that have been "smoothly sailing" on the market, but now there is a move to "escape" by destroying evidence.

Many Hai Sen branded products were burned and thrown away on the roadside - Photo: N.VAN

The fight against counterfeit goods

The national campaign against counterfeit goods, fake goods and commercial fraud has brought positive signals. In the first half of June alone, market management forces coordinated with the police and health sector to destroy many counterfeit goods production groups in major cities and provinces such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bac Ninh, Hai Phong...

In addition to the products that were burned or thrown away, many warehouses containing goods of unknown origin were sealed. It is worth noting that many of them were heavily marketed on social networks, taking advantage of consumer trust through advertisements, popularity or the trick of "family heirlooms for three generations".

The products being thrown away like trash are also a wake-up call about the lax management in some localities, of e-commerce platforms, and the ease with which consumers believe in unverified advertisements.

At a national online conference to strengthen inspection and supervision of law enforcement in the pharmaceutical and food safety sectors, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen frankly acknowledged that the current management of the above items only stops at the safety control stage and has not yet strictly controlled the quality.

It is worth noting that when looking back, the self-declaration mechanism poses a big challenge for post-audit work, when businesses declare and put products on the market, but declare in one locality but sell products in other localities.

Mr. Tuyen also said that the fight against counterfeit goods cannot stop at peak periods, but is a continuous, synchronous campaign, with the participation of ministries from health, industry and trade to police, customs and requires close supervision by the people.

What people are waiting for is that after the raids during the peak month, will things "go back to normal" after the campaign? People cannot just rely on peak periods, and even more so, they cannot expect sellers to voluntarily throw away their goods when inspected, but need strict control from authorities.

Including tightening product quality management, e-commerce platforms, controlling false advertising,... to make people feel secure when using. And is the "escape" of goods to the landfill to avoid the crackdown of authorities?

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WILLOW

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thuc-pham-chuc-nang-nuoc-mam-hang-hoa-nguyen-hop-vut-day-bai-rac-cuoc-thanh-loc-hang-dom-20250619170408451.htm