VietNamNet Bridge – The formula products imported through
unofficial channels to Vietnam have been available on the market and favored by
customers, even though their quality has not been certified by state management
agencies.
Since Vietnamese value foreign
made formula above domestic products, the imports through unofficial channels
have been selling well in Vietnam.
In principle, the Ministry of
Health only examines the imports through official channels and gives
certificates on the products’ quality. This means that the quality of the
imports through unofficial channels has been left “open.”
At the milk shops on Tay Son,
Hang Buom, Cau Giay and Thai Ha streets in Hanoi, tens of milk products have
been available, introduced as the foreign products carried to Vietnam across
the borders by the travelers or those entering Vietnam. The products bear
different brands from Japan, South Korea, Australia, Russia, Germany, the US
and Netherlands.
Formula products have been
distributed through large distribution networks. Housewives not only have to
come to buy products at shops, but can also place orders online and get
deliveries at any time they want.
The owner of a milk shop on Hang
Buom Street said assuredly that the products available there are all the real
ones carried to Vietnam by the air stewardesses. The owner of a shop on Lang
Road also said the same thing about the origin of the products.
A paradox exists that the
products imported through official channels are always cheaper than the
products imported through unofficial channels, even though the state management
agencies only grant certificates on the quality of the officially imported
goods.
A box of Meiji powder milk,
imported through official channels is now sold at VND420,000-470,000.
Meanwhile, the same product “carried to Vietnam by air stewardesses” as
introduced by the sellers, is priced at VNd640,000-666,000.
“The products are better and more
expensive because they are made in accordance with the standards designed for
foreign children,” the owner of the shop on Hang Buom Street said.
Hoa, a mother in Nghia Tan
residential quarter in Hanoi, said she has been advised not to use the products
imported through official channels, because the products are made in accordance
with Vietnamese standards.
She also admitted that she feeds
the child with the products simply because the sellers said the products are
better, while she herself lack information about the issue. Meanwhile, there is
no sub-label in Vietnamese on the products; therefore, Hoa cannot read the
information about the nutrients and about how to use the formula.
Vuong Ngoc Tuan, Deputy Secretary
General of the Vietnam Consumer Protection, said that formula products have not
been well controlled.
However, he admitted that it’s
not easy to control the market where the products are from different sources.
“Vietnamese always favor foreign products. Therefore, they sometimes
accidentally buy low quality formula, because it’s unclear about the quality of
the products, once their quality is not supervised by the state management
agencies,” Tuan said.
Kieu Dinh Canh, a high ranking
official of the Hanoi Market Management Sub-department, has promised to tighten
the control over the formula market after local newspapers continuously
reported the problems in import products. However, Canh said the state
management agency can only control domestic products or the products imported
through official channels.
“The credulity of Vietnamese
consumers has made the formula market chaotic,” he commented.
VNE
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