Head of the Vietnam Food Administration (VFA) Nguyen Thanh Phong yesterday warned customers not to drink beverage bottles containing strange objects.

He was quoted as saying at a press conference on plan of food safety mission on Lunar New Year and upcoming festive season on December 22 in Hanoi.

Following the public’s concern of beverage bottles containing white sediment which can easily be seen floating at the bottom of the bottles, Mr. Phong said that all beverage bottles must meet food safe standards and be certified by authorities; accordingly, when customers detect strange objects in the bottles or the beverage have strange smell, they should not drink it and report to food safety management agencies.

Upon some of Tan Hiep Phat-made herbal tea products were found to contain strange objects, Mr. Phong said that his administration has just received the Ca Mau food safety watchdog’s reports saying they had found more than many unopened bottles of Dr. Thanh herbal tea have sub standards.

Accordingly, the Administration asked the Ca Mau food safety watchdog and related agencies to investigate and trace back the origin of the low-quality products to report the administration to take as evidence for further penalties.

Mr. Phong frankly said that though his staffs and inter-department inspectors did not detect food safety violation when they paid an inspection to Tan Hiep Phat Company in April, 2015, it does not mean that the company’s products always safe.
 
As per the Administration’s plan on inspection of food safety in the Lunar New Year and upcoming festive season, 6 inspection teams will be set up to pay visit to food business and processing companies in 12 major cities and provinces from December 20, 2015 to March 25, 2016.