Temporarily suspending circulation of 13 products of Coca Cola Vietnam

The company's food supplements do not have a food supplement manufacturing license issued by the authorities.

On July 1, the Ministry of Health Inspectorate sent a dispatch to the health departments of 6 provinces and cities across the country: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Can Tho, Khanh Hoa and Nghe An, requesting that localities monitor and temporarily suspend the circulation of 13 supplementary drinking water products of this company.

Accordingly, these 13 products include Minute Maid Nutriboost fruit milk drink in strawberry, orange, and mango flavors, Samurrai energy drink in strawberry flavors in glass and PET bottles, Teppy orange juice with pulp, Aquarius sports drinks, and Dasani with added minerals.

The reason for suspending 13 products was stated by the Ministry of Health inspector because they did not have a certificate of facility meeting food safety conditions in the production of food supplements.

According to information from the Ministry of Health, since the beginning of June, the Ministry of Health Inspectorate has announced inspections of a series of companies, in which the comprehensive inspection of Coca Cola Company began on June 21.

During the inspection, problems were revealed such as all three Coca Cola factories in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Hanoi produced the above mentioned food supplements, while the company did not have a license to produce food supplements issued by the authorities.

Temporarily suspending circulation of 13 Coca Cola products

Therefore, the Ministry of Health Inspectorate has suspended production and requested to temporarily stop the circulation of the above products to complete the required paperwork.

To clarify the above information, speaking with Dat Viet on July 2, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong - Director of the Department of Food Safety, Ministry of Health said: "This is only a requirement in terms of administrative procedures, not in terms of quality.

Previously, according to regulations, the certificate of hygiene eligibility for normal drinking products was issued by the local Food Safety Department. However, Coca Cola Vietnam Company also produced some vitamin-supplemented drinks, which according to regulations must be licensed by the Ministry of Health or the Food Safety Department.

Recently, there was a joint Circular between the Ministry of Health - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Ministry of Industry and Trade, stipulating that one enterprise can only be licensed by one unit, avoiding the case of one enterprise being licensed twice.

Therefore, the Food Safety Department believes that for a business that the local Food Safety Department has issued, the Department will not issue it again. But if the Inspectorate says it is wrong, the Food Safety Department will reissue it according to the correct administrative procedures.

Meanwhile, speaking to the press, Mr. Nguyen Khoa My, Director of External Affairs and Communications, Coca-Cola Vietnam, also affirmed that Coca-Cola factories have been certified to be qualified to produce carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks and bottled water.

However, Mr. My acknowledged that a few months ago, through internal inspection, Cocacola Vietnam found that there was an additional requirement on the conditions for producing soft drinks with added micronutrients (also known as dietary supplements).

“Coca-Cola Vietnam admitted that it had not fully updated the changes in regulations,” Mr. My said, but the company quickly remedied the situation by completing the application to register for eligibility to produce products.

Mr. Khoa My stated that up to now, Cocacola Vietnam has had a certificate of eligibility to produce food supplements for factories in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang issued by the Ministry of Health, therefore, he believes that Cocacola's products are safe and currently meet Vietnam's food safety standards.

Before Mr. My's explanation, the Director of the Food Safety Department said: "When a business submits its application, it must be given priority immediately, and cannot be allowed to stop operations because of an administrative procedure.

We will grant the license immediately. Normally, it takes about 15 days to get this license, but if necessary, it will only take 1-2 days, because they already have a hygiene certificate from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, in addition to ISO certification.

In principle, a certificate of hygiene must be obtained before a product consumption certificate can be issued. We think that a certificate from the Department of Health is enough, but for supplementary products, it must be issued by the Food Safety Department, so we must create conditions to help businesses not face difficulties due to administrative procedures."

According to baodatviet.vn