Market officers target suspect milk
Market officers target suspect milk
Market officers are attempting to shore up regulations preventing substandard milk from entering Viet Nam, following the recall of Abbott Nutrition milk last week for fears of contamination.
According to Do Thanh Lam, deputy head of the Market Surveillance Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the agency dealt with about 13,000 cases annually, related to fake and substandard goods.
The ministry has also recently established a mobile market management team to ramp up inspection and and catch violations related to commercial products and activities.
Lam said it was difficult to monitor the quality of substandard imported goods entering the country as carry-on items.
A report from the ministry suggested that the domestic milk market had grown between 7 and 8 per cent annually and that total production volume had reached approximately 47 thousand tonnes for the first seven months of this year.
However, domestic fresh milk was meeting only 30 per cent of local demand.
Do Kim Lang, deputy head of the Viet Nam Trade Promotion, said the agency was also keeping an eye on discount activities of Abbott Viet Nam to spot marketing violations.
Lang said that it was difficult to coordinate between market management watchers under the authority of local administrations with ministerial market watchers.
He added that smuggling and substandard products from overseas were infiltrating Viet Nam and a new legal framework would boost coordination in market management activities at all levels.
vietnamnews
