Coca Cola Vietnam claims its products to meet safety standards

On July 3, the MoH asked Coca-Cola Vietnam to suspended sales of 13 of its nutritional supplement dinks because the company did not have the necessary certificates on food safety for dietary supplement production. The affected brands included Nutriboost, Teepy, Aquarius, and Dasani.

The listed products include Minute Maid Nutriboost milk drink in orange, strawberry, and mango flavour, Samurai energy drink in strawberry flavour, Minute Maid Teppy orange drink, Aquarius sports drink, Dasani bottled water, and Minute Maid Splash Smooth.

Previously, the MoH’s inspection team started a 45-day inspection of Coca-Cola Vietnam to scrutinise its distributors, suppliers of ingredients, additives, processing aids and containers, as well as its three factories in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Danang.

According to the head of Vietnam Food Administration (VFA), Nguyen Thanh Phong, under the current regulations, the production of normal bottled drinks only require food quality certificates issued by municipal or provincial food safety agencies or the Ministry of Industry and Trade, while products with added vitamin and mineral content need extra food safety certificates from the VFA. Coca-Cola has yet to receive approval from the VFA for its nutritional supplement drinks.

However, Coca-Cola Vietnam confirmed that its factories meet every condition to manufacturing beverages. In addition, these factories were licensed by the MoH to manufacture and distribute nutritional supplement drinks.

Regarding Samurai energy drink, the test results showed that the product’s Vitamin B9 content is lower than stated on the label. Reacting to the conclusions, the company withdrew and treated batches of the product. In addition, the company paid the fine incurred for the violation without delay.