Busting a business producing fake coffee in large quantities

Investigation results determined that Nguyen Thanh Hai, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Phat Hai Production, Trade and Service Company, used 10% coffee beans and additives, 70% soybeans, and 20% coffee husks to produce fake coffee.

Many additives are used by criminals to produce fake coffee.

On February 22, Dak Lak Provincial Police announced that the Economic Police Department, Provincial Police has just issued a decision to prosecute and temporarily detain Nguyen Thanh Hai, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Phat Hai Production, Trade and Service Company and Le Thi Thanh Tam, Branch Director for the crime of " Production and trading of counterfeit goods ".

According to the Investigation Agency, after a period of monitoring, the Economic Police Department, Dak Lak Provincial Police discovered that a grocery store in Buon Ma Thuot City was selling more than 100kg of ground coffee under the brands "Phat Hai Weasel Coffee" and "Phat Hai Coffee" of Phat Hai Production, Trade and Service Company with signs of poor quality production, so they took coffee samples for testing.

Test results showed that the caffeine content was only 0.41-0.46%, much lower than the content stated on the packaging of ≥ 1%.

These products are manufactured by Phat Hai Production, Trade and Service Company, headquartered in Thuan An City, Binh Duong Province and has a branch in Ho Chi Minh City.

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Conducting a search at the company's headquarters in Binh Duong province, the police force seized more than 2,800 packages of ground coffee weighing nearly 1,330 kg and 7,500 kg of soybeans, 5,500 kg of crushed coffee husks, 2,000 kg of roasted soybeans mixed with crushed coffee husks and many flavorings, packaging...

The investigation results determined that Nguyen Thanh Hai, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Phat Hai Production, Trade and Service Company, used 10% coffee beans and additives, 70% soybeans, and 20% coffee husks to produce fake coffee. The caffeine content was only 0.39% to 0.41% compared to the packaging's stated 1%. To avoid detection, Nguyen Thanh Hai only hired relatives to do the roasting and grinding steps and frequently changed the packaging design.

Statistics from seized books show that in the first 11 months of 2024, Phat Hai Production, Trade and Service Company branch produced and sold to the market seven types of ground coffee that did not ensure quality in terms of caffeine content, a total of 344 tons, worth about 20 billion VND.

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According to the Economic Police Department of Dak Lak Police, from the end of 2022 to now, the unit has discovered 12 cases of fake ground coffee production, with evidence confiscating more than 20 tons of fake ground coffee that had not yet been sold to the market.

In February 2025, Dak Lak Provincial Police also prosecuted Luong Dinh De, born in 1999, residing in Buon Ho town, for the crime of "Producing and trading in counterfeit goods".

Inspecting 1,500kg of Coffee HLP Huynh Long Phat brand ground coffee produced by De, the police recorded a caffeine content of only 0.5%, not as stated on the packaging. At De's production facility, the police also seized 500kg of soybeans and two bags of roasted soybeans with additives.

At the police station, De confessed that when the price of coffee was low, he still produced the right amount. Now that the price is high, De has increased the amount of soybeans and reduced the amount of coffee to reduce production costs in order to make illegal profits.

Source: https://baodaknong.vn/triet-pha-doanh-nghiep-san-xuat-ca-phe-gia-voi-so-luong-lon-243576.html