131 companies were fined for violations in advertising dietary supplements.

From the beginning of the year to the end of August, the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health) fined 131 companies a total of more than 2.4 billion VND, including 109 companies that violated regulations on advertising functional foods and were fined more than 2 billion VND.

In the first eight months of 2015, the Food and Drug Administration fined 131 companies trading in dietary supplements.

The Food Safety Department also revoked 11 certificates of conformity with food safety regulations, 5 certificates of advertising content; temporarily suspended the circulation of 40 products, recalled and destroyed 2 products that violated quality and labeling regulations; and transferred 15 cases to other functional agencies for handling.

In the latter half of August alone, the Director of the Food Safety Department issued administrative penalties against 13 companies for food safety violations, with a total fine of 217,600,000 VND.

Of these 13 companies, 8 were fined for advertising dietary supplements on mass media without prior approval from the competent authority. The remaining five companies were fined for failing to maintain regular testing of their products, violating labeling regulations, and selling products that did not comply with food safety regulations.

Specifically, Khanh Tan Trading Co., Ltd. (Hanoi) was fined for failing to maintain regular testing for 5 of its dietary supplement products as required by regulations and for circulating dietary supplement products with supplementary labels that did not correctly state the mandatory information on the product label.

Thien Duoc Pharmaceutical and Trading Company Limited (Hanoi) was fined for importing and selling a batch of COOPTD functional food products, manufactured on January 15, 2014, and expiring on January 14, 2017, which did not comply with food safety regulations.

Tue Linh Co., Ltd. and Tri Thuc Joint Stock Company (both located in Hanoi) were fined for failing to maintain regular testing of their dietary supplement products as required by regulations.

Dai Gia Trading and Service Co., Ltd. (Hanoi) was fined for advertising 17 dietary supplement products without content approval from the competent authority, and for distributing the dietary supplement "Weight Loss Tea" with labeling that did not comply with mandatory information on product labels.

Thus, in August, the Department issued administrative penalties against 20 companies for food safety violations, with a total fine of nearly 330 million VND, and temporarily suspended the circulation of 18 dietary supplement products from 7 companies.

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Phong, Director of the Food Safety Department, said that in addition to planned inspections, the Department will strengthen unannounced inspections of establishments producing, trading, importing, and advertising dietary supplements, strictly handle violating establishments, and publicly announce the violations through mass media as prescribed.

According to Chinhphu.vn