Fines for functional food establishments violating the law amount to more than 12 billion VND

In 2024, the Food Safety Department inspected 66 establishments producing, trading and advertising functional foods, and fined 21 establishments with a total amount of more than 12 billion VND.

In 2024, the Food Safety Department inspected 66 establishments producing, trading and advertising functional foods, and fined 21 establishments with a total amount of more than 12 billion VND.

In 2024, the inspection, examination and handling of violations related to functional foods has been significantly strengthened by the Food Safety Department. However, there are still many difficulties in managing and controlling this market.

Ms. Tran Viet Nga, Director of the Department of Food Safety

The functional food market in Vietnam is growing strongly, along with the increase in violations of false advertising, poor product quality, and products that have not been registered or legally announced.

According to statistics from the Food Safety Department, in 2024, this agency inspected 66 establishments producing, trading and advertising functional foods. Thereby, 21 establishments were fined with a total amount of up to 12,258,925,000 VND.

Violations mainly include false advertising, labeling violations, substandard product quality, as well as violations related to product declaration.

In addition, a number of other violations related to product labeling and quality have also been strictly handled, with a total fine of more than 10 billion VND. The Department has also transferred a number of serious violations related to the trade of products containing banned substances and counterfeit goods to the police for handling according to the law.

Responding to a question from a reporter from Dau Tu Newspaper about recent violations in advertising functional foods, Director of the Department of Food Safety ( Ministry of Health ), Ms. Tran Viet Nga, shared that violations in advertising functional foods are a prominent issue.

False advertising, exaggeration of product benefits, or cross-border advertising via social networking platforms are causing great difficulties in controlling, investigating and handling.

In addition, some functional food businesses have not registered their products with the Food Safety Department, or have products that have not been announced but continue to advertise and distribute. This is not only a violation of the law but also destroys consumer confidence in the functional food market.

To deal with violations and ensure consumer rights, the Food Safety Department has implemented many strong measures in 2024.

The Department has stepped up inspection, examination and post-inspection of functional food production and distribution facilities, especially unregistered or unpublished products.

Ms. Tran Viet Nga also added that the Food Safety Department has strengthened post-inspection work and strictly handled violations of false advertising and substandard product quality.

One of the important measures that the Food Safety Department is implementing is to strengthen coordination with the Ministry of Information and Communications to handle false advertising, especially cross-border advertising. The Department has also worked with major social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to control and remove violating advertisements.

In addition to efforts to handle violations, according to Ms. Nga, controlling functional food advertising still faces many difficulties. Advertising on social networks can easily spread across national borders without being strictly controlled.

Furthermore, a number of hand-carried products from international brands also enter the Vietnamese market, creating additional burdens for inspection and handling of violations.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/xu-phat-cac-co-so-thuc-pham-chuc-nang-vi-pham-so-tien-hon-12-ty-dong-d238080.html