A Viet Company’s “Solar IQ” milk with fake produced-on and use-by dates.

The Health Ministry sweep of Vietnam’s milk sector continued Thursday, with still more Chinese milk products discovered.

Products from 22 Chinese dairy firms have already been blacklisted for distributing tainted milk products. Vietnamese companies using any China-sourced milk have been asked to hold their goods until their products are tested for traces of melamine.

In Ho Chi Minh City, Health Department inspections Thursday found a number of contraventions at A Viet Food Processing Company (A Viet Company) in Tan Phu District.

Health inspectors said the company had used milk material from other countries, including China, to produce seven brands of milk, including milk for pregnant women, the elderly and children.

Melamine can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure. No national or international authority has approved melamine, used to manufacture plastic, for human consumption.

Their products have been sold in Mekong Delta provinces and 76 bookstores, supermarkets and nursery schools in HCMC, inspectors said.

A Viet Company was accused of using milk material which was past its use-by date, including some products bought from A Chau Chemical JSC in Tan Binh District.

A Chau Chemical JSC was found to have bought a large quantity of Chinese milk powder from Hanoi Milk JSC (Hanoimilk).

Inspectors also found packages of A Viet Company’s “Solar IQ” milk listing ingredients from Australia, with fake produced-on and use-by dates.

The inspectors have taken milk samples from both A Viet and A Chau Company for examination and destroyed the milk material that was past its expiry date.

An invoice showed A Chau Company had sold 7 tons of milk material to Pham Nguyen Confectionary Corporation in Binh Tan District since February.

HCMC Health Inspectors said they had taken samples from 51 companies so far for testing.

The Health Ministry Thursday named five companies in HCMC that had imported milk from China as Kim An Co. Ltd., Lua Chon Dinh JSC, A Chau Company, Dai Kim Thanh Advertising Trading and Services Company and Viet Trans Co. Ltd.

In central Da Nang City, an inspection of cream production firm of Thu Do – a popular cream brand in the city – Thursday found 30 kilograms of non dairy creamer of unknown origin.

Inspectors said the company had bought 200 kilograms of the creamer from Da Nang’s Le Thanh Chung Company.

A subsequent inspection of Le Thanh Chung Company revealed the company had bought 1,000 kilograms of the creamer from A Chau Chemical JSC in HCMC, one of the companies identified as importing milk products from China.

However, Le Thanh Chung Company said they had only received 200 kilograms of creamer from the HCMC company.

Inspectors took samples of the creamer for examination. They also noted Le Thanh Chung Company was registered to only trade construction materials.

In Hanoi, the Health Ministry chief inspector Tran Quang Trung said 21 milk samples taken from dairy producers and importers between September 15 and 20 had been found to be melamine-free.

The Ministry of Health also required dairy companies in the country to test their own products for melamine and report their findings to the ministry.

Reported by Nam Son – Thanh Tung – Dieu Hien