Nearly 600 fake milk brands 'self-declared quality'

A carton of milk was identified by police as fake in the case.

A representative of the Food Safety Department, Ministry of Health, said the above after a day of requesting localities to review the product declaration of 11 companies in the fake milk production line that was just busted. Regarding this line, the investigation agency determined that there were 573 brands of fake milk and low-quality milk, but the specific list has not been announced.

The Ministry of Health's inspection results showed that the quality standards of the above fake milk brands were announced by the enterprises in the form of "self-declaration" at the local Food Safety Department. Of which, about 10% were announced in Hanoi. The rest were announced in Hoa Binh, Vinh Phuc and some other provinces and cities.

According to Decree 15/2018 of the Government, to bring a product to the market, enterprises must declare and register the food product declaration. According to the leader of the Food Safety Department, in fact, 96% of food products are currently self-declared by enterprises, in addition to the 4 groups that need strict control, so they must register the product declaration with the competent authority before circulating on the market.

Four groups are strictly controlled, including health protection foods, medical nutritional foods, foods for special diets, and nutritional products for children up to 36 months old.

"Empowering businesses to declare products to create transparency in administrative procedures", the leader of the Food Safety Department explained, businesses must commit to fully implementing food safety regulations, take responsibility for the legality of the declaration dossier and the quality and food safety of the product. The Food Safety Department assessed that "the policy of self-declaration and registration of product declarations of Decree 15 is an advanced policy, approaching the food management methods of developed countries".

In developed countries, businesses are responsible for their own products and do not need to register with the competent authorities. Only a few products that support the sick need to be approved by the state agency before being circulated on the market.

Also according to regulations, the Provincial People's Committee is responsible for organizing the reception and management of records, issuing Certificates of Acceptance of Product Declarations, Certificates of Confirmation of Advertising Content for medical nutritional products, foods for special diets, and nutritional products for children up to 36 months of age.

"Thus, the announcement of products in the milk group such as the nearly 600 types of fake milk above is decentralized to the locality," the leader of the Food Safety Department added.

The representative of the Ministry of Health also said that after the enterprise announces the quality, the post-inspection of product production and business is "extremely important" by coordinating with other sectors, conducting periodic and surprise inspections, and handling false advertising and consumer deception.

A leader of the Hanoi Food Safety Department said that each year the Department inspects 600 establishments, including many other items such as restaurants, hotels, street food, other foods, etc. When inspecting, "it is not necessary to take samples for quality testing", but the enterprise will check whatever criteria it announces.

"The quality indicators listed on the label are self-declared and the enterprise is responsible for them, so the authorities only check the indicators they declare," said a representative of the Hanoi Food Safety Department, saying that "this is done in accordance with legal regulations."

On April 12, the Ministry of Public Security reported that it had dismantled a production and distribution network of 573 brands of fake milk powder for people with diabetes, kidney failure, premature babies, and pregnant women, with a revenue of nearly 500 billion VND. According to regulations, milk powder with quality indicators of some substances below 70% of the announced level is sufficient grounds to determine that it is fake. From the two main enterprises, Rance Pharma and Hacofood Group, this group has established 9 more companies to produce and distribute fake milk powder. This fake milk production network has an ecosystem covering the whole country.

TH (according to VnExpress)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/gan-600-nhan-hieu-sua-gia-tu-cong-bo-chat-luong-409567.html