3:58:32 PM | 17/7/2009
Milk companies in Vietnam are currently cheating local consumers by labeling their sterilized reconstituted milk products as 100 percent pure fresh milk ones, the Thoi Bao Kinh Te newspaper reported, citing a National Assembly member.
The sterilized reconstituted milk products are all being made of freeze-dried milk whose quality is far lower than fresh milk, said Nguyen Dang Vang, the vice chairman of the NA Science-Technology-Environment Committee.
Despite blatant mislabeling of products, these companies have not been punished, Vang added, attributing serious shortage of local fresh milk materials to the situation.
Some eight milk companies are currently supplying around 330 tons of so-called sterilized fresh milk products a day on the northern market, more than tripling the fresh milk output daily yielded out local dairy cows.
In Hanoi alone, nearly 200,000 liters of fresh milk-labeled products are sold a day. No one can ensure about quality of the milk.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnamese people could consume 400 million liters of fresh milk per year. Of which, 250 million liters will be supplied by domestic dairy cow raisers while the remainder will source from imports.
Local milk companies have been reluctant to buy fresh milk from farmers because it cost more expensive than importing powder milk. To buy a liter of fresh milk, they had to pay VND6,500-VND7,500, but the price for a liter of powder milk was only VND4,000. (Vietnam Economic Times)
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