Authorities discovered over 1,000 packages of civet coffee made from soybeans and corn.

Tuy Hoa civet coffee product of Hoang Phu An Co., Ltd.

In addition, the Provincial People's Committee also suspended the operation of part of this facility for 12 months and required the owner to return the illegal profits worth 39 million VND.

Previously, inspectors from the Department of Industry and Trade inspected the company's production facility in Ban Nham Bac village, Hoa Xuan Tay commune (Dong Hoa district) and discovered that food processing did not meet food safety standards; raw materials were stored directly on the dirty ground.

Additionally, 1,200 bags of coffee bearing the "White Civet Tuy Hoa" brand, each weighing 500 grams, were discovered. After sending samples of this coffee to the Central Region Food Safety and Hygiene Testing Center (Pasteur Institute Nha Trang) for testing, it was found that the product did not contain coffee as stated in its quality declaration. Instead, its main ingredients were soybeans, corn, and flavorings.

The Department of Industry and Trade proposed that the Provincial People's Committee impose administrative penalties on this establishment for producing counterfeit goods. However, Mr. Le Van Thuoc, Director of Hoang Phu An Co., Ltd., subsequently objected to the penalty decision. According to Mr. Thuoc, due to consumer preferences, some coffee processing facilities often mix coffee powder with cereal powder.

Therefore, the company manufactures and processes cereal powder for a coffee facility in Nha Trang City (Khanh Hoa province) for coffee processing. The company wanted to reuse old, leftover packaging to package this cereal powder, and did not intentionally produce counterfeit coffee. The reason for signing the violation report from the Department of Industry and Trade was that the owner did not fully understand the document.

Meanwhile, Mr. Dao Tan Cam, Director of the Phu Yen Department of Industry and Trade, stated that the owner's claim of reusing packaging was unreasonable. At the time of inspection, the facility had already packaged the product and labeled it as Tuy Hoa White Civet Coffee. Regarding Mr. Thuoc's signature on the document, the inspection team had previously allowed him to carefully read the report before signing.