A man carries a crate of Coca-Cola bottles in
Ho Chi Minh City.
A
thorough probe by health officials in June found numerous violations at the
Vietnamese business of U.S. drink maker Coca-Cola, the Ministry of Health said
Monday.
Inspectors
have found six product lines of Coca-Cola Vietnam failing to meet the labeling
standards, related to product appearance, word sizes, and other product
information.
The
health inspectors began looking into Coca-Cola Vietnam on June 21, as part of a
plan to thoroughly check four major drink makers in the country.
The other
three are URC, the maker of C2 bottled green tea and Rong Do (Red Dragon)
energy drink; Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage; and Wonderfarm, known for such
products as winter melon tea, passion fruit drink and bird nests.
Prior to
the official announcement of the Coca-Cola Vietnam inspection results, the
health inspectorate in late July penalized the soft drink maker nearly VND434
million (US$19,375) for many violations.
These
included making 12 product lines of nutritional supplement drinks at its three
plants in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and the central city of Da Nang without
permission or food safety certificates; and the sale of substandard products,
which are the Samurai strawberry-flavored energy drink bottles whose content of
vitamin B9, or folic acid, is lower than claimed.
The
VND434 million fine levied on Coca-Cola Vietnam is the second-biggest civil
penalty ever for a drink maker in the Southeast Asian country.
In May,
the Ministry of Health imposed a VND5.8 billion ($259,144) financial penalty on
URC Hanoi Co. Ltd. for excessive lead content in its C2 bottled green tea and
Rong Do energy drink.
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