Medicines and functional foods are thrown in piles on the roadside in Ho Chi Minh City.

Tens of thousands of boxes of medicine and functional foods for children and women with labels still on were dumped in a pile in an empty lot in Binh Chanh. Police are investigating signs of counterfeit goods.

Police inspect boxes of functional foods abandoned in a vacant lot along Nguyen Van Linh Street, Binh Chanh District, at noon on June 6.

At noon on June 6, functional food boxes, medicine blister packs, and liquid tubes were piled up and scattered on an empty lot next to Nguyen Van Linh Street, Phong Phu Commune (about 1 km from Binh Dien Market). Most of the products had expiration dates until 2026 and 2028.

In addition to Vietnamese, the box also has Korean, Japanese and English writing... indicating the place of manufacture at the factory address in Hanoi . The packaging and labels of these products are still new, with intact stickers.

On the packaging of more than 10 types of functional foods, there are many uses listed such as: providing vitamins for pregnant and lactating women, deer antler extract for kidney and yang tonic, white horse bone extract for bone and joint health, shark cartilage for brain health, vitamin C supplement tubes... In addition, there are some types of medicine for bone and joint diseases.

The most popular of these are many types of nutritional supplements for children with the content on the box helping children eat well - sleep well, supplementing DHA and calcium for intellectual and physical development.

According to local residents, many people have been transporting these dietary supplements here by three-wheeled vehicles for the past few days. They usually dump them at night and then leave quickly.

Tens of thousands of boxes and blister packs containing functional food tablets were dumped.

Ms. Dinh Phuong Thao, Chairman of Phong Phu Commune, said that because this incident showed signs of being related to counterfeit and poor quality goods being illegally dumped, the unit reported to the Economic Police Department of Ho Chi Minh City Police to investigate.

Local authorities have recorded and isolated the quantity of drugs and functional foods to develop a treatment plan to avoid environmental pollution; at the same time, they have extracted cameras in the area and nearby routes to track down those involved.

According to statistics from Ho Chi Minh City authorities, in 2024 and the first 5 months of 2025, 178 violations related to modern medicine, 38 cases related to functional foods were detected, and more than 262,000 products of poor quality or unknown origin were seized.

Faced with the above situation, the Government has directed the establishment of a special task force and launched a nationwide campaign against smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeit goods, lasting from May 15 to June 15.

VN (according to VnExpress)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/thuoc-thuc-pham-chuc-nang-bi-vut-thanh-dong-ven-duong-o-tp-ho-chi-minh-413386.html