The truth behind fake soy milk powder

With a few spoons of powder, a little flavoring, mixed with boiling water, you can have a cup of soy milk… just like the real thing. This powder can be bought in many places at a cheap price. Many of them have bags of powder without any name or label.

Soybeans advertised as "local beans" were bought by reporters at Thanh Xuan market. Cream powder used to mix soy milk on Hang Buom street (small photo).

Cream powder + essential oil = soy milk

Before the information that soy milk is made from fat powder + flavoring, we went to Hang Buom Street - Hanoi to verify. "There is no soy powder. I see people often buy fat cream powder, add a few drops of soybean oil to make it soy," said a grocery store owner on Hang Buom - considered the "food chemical warehouse" of Hanoi. After saying that, she pointed to a row of powder packages on the shelf. The cheapest one is 35-40,000 VND/half a kilo. The large package is priced at 80,000 VND/kg. Touching the packaging, the white particles inside are crunchy like sugar. According to the reporter's observation, these powders have labels and expiration dates. The front says "Thai fat cream powder" but the back says it is a product of a company from Ho Chi Minh City. The cheapest one says "Malaysian fat cream powder" in the front but the back also says it is a product of a company in Vietnam.

When asked about this, the owner said: "This one is from Thailand, and this one is from Malaysia but packaged by a domestic company." "Is there any cheaper powder? My sister introduced a Taiwanese powder, opaque white, sold by weight, much cheaper," I wondered. "Yes, I've seen some stores sell it, but not here. This one is a bit more expensive, but a pot of about 3-4 liters of water, add a few small spoons, stir well and boil, add a drop of soybean oil essence, it's rich and fragrant with soybean smell, you can sell it freely," the owner said. At the store next door, we asked to buy soybean oil essence. The owner said, it's true that it's just a powdered creamer, adding essential oil will make it very similar to soy milk. Even gourmets will have a hard time distinguishing when tasting it. Having said that, he went into the house and brought out a bottle of soybean oil essence. He said the selling price was 70,000 VND/100g. “If you buy a lot, I will give you a little discount, otherwise the price is too high.”

Chinese soybean confusion

According to the reporter's research, cream powder is often used in many dishes: Making pearl milk tea, adding to coffee, to ice cream... However, the floating powders of unknown origin being sold make many people worried. To have a cup of real soy milk, we went to Thanh Xuan market to buy soybeans. The staff of MQ store here generously said: "Come in and see our soybeans, they are "local" goods. One kilo of beans costs 40,000 VND. Don't be greedy and buy hybrid beans or Chinese beans." According to this staff, local beans are small and green. Hybrid beans and Chinese beans have large, round and white seeds. "A woman who works at a bank nearby buys beans from our store all the time. She said, grinding them makes fragrant soy milk, while hybrid beans make milk that is bland, has a foul smell, and is undrinkable," said this female staff.

When asked about soy milk powder, many stores here shook their heads and said they did not have it. However, there are many cheap soybeans. The cheapest is less than 30,000 VND/kg. Dr. Tran Hong Con (Faculty of Chemistry - University of Natural Sciences - Hanoi National University) said that with floating foods of unknown origin, it is very difficult to determine the level of harm. Like some other types of essence, if soy essence is refined according to regulations and all impurities are removed, there will be no problem when used. However, if it is floating goods, not "clean", it is very difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. The impurities that still exist in it, when used for a long time, will affect health, at worst it can lead to kidney stones or cancer.

It is known that, in addition to the information about "fake" soy milk and Chinese soy, many housewives are very scared after the news that most of the soy imported from the US to Vietnam is genetically modified, causing harm to users. Ms. Ngan Giang (Cau Giay, Hanoi) said that before, when she had breakfast near her office, every morning she saw a man carrying hundreds of glass bottles of soy milk to deliver to shops. These bottles were all handmade, without labels. "However, if genetically modified soybeans were made into cooking oil, I don't know what to use anymore," Ms. Giang shook her head in disappointment. According to Associate Professor, Dr. Le Huy Ham (Director of the Vietnam Agricultural Genetics Institute), genetically modified foods have been used for nearly 20 years. World medical literature has not recorded any risks that it causes. Vietnam currently also has a "double fence" on the biosafety of genetically modified plants and still requires food manufacturers to continue monitoring to intervene promptly when abnormalities occur.

According to Giadinh.net