A customer examines the content and usage information of a milk product in District 3. Customers have become increasingly worried about the quality of milk products they are buying.

Ho Chi Minh City health authorities and the national quality control agency have traded accusations over the delay in informing the public about the false labeling of protein content in milk products.

Last Friday, the HCMC Institute of Hygiene and Public Health announced that 37 of the 99 milk samples tested had protein content up to 30 times lower than what was displayed on their labels.

The announcement followed growing public concern after the suspension a day earlier of a local firm, Hung Lam Joint Stock Company, for selling five different milk products that had very low levels of protein.

Thanh Nien has found that last October, the southern branch of the Vietnam Standard and Consumer Association (VINASTAS) had sent a report to HCMC’s Department of Health to warn about several milk products that had protein content much lower than indicated on the labels.

Speaking with Thanh Nien Monday, leaders of both the health department and VINASTAS blamed each other for the delay in announcing the results.

Health Department Director Nguyen Van Chau said upon receiving the VINASTAS report, city health authorities had launched inspections [into milk products] and reported back to VINASTAS last December. In the report, the department acknowledged that several dairy products had incorrect protein levels mentioned on their labels.

But Chau said his department could not be blamed for hushing up the test results.

“We thought we had informed the public [about those faulty products] through their representative agency [VINASTAS],” Chau said.

The head of VINASTAS’ southern office, Nguyen Nam Vinh, confirmed Monday that the city health department had sent the test results to his agency last December.

But Vinh slammed the department for neglecting its duty.

The department should have expanded its investigations and made public the test results by itself instead of passing the buck to VINASTAS, Vinh said.

Thanh Nien found that the city’s health department had also failed to report the problem to the Ministry of Health.

Many inspections by the HCMC Institute of Hygiene and Public Health last year had uncovered several low-protein milk products. But the institute only made public those test results last Friday.

Institute head Le Hoang Ninh argued that different test results last year would not have stood up to legal scrutiny to penalize any company. The institute had to report back to the Ministry of Health for further action, he said.

Experts have said some dairy firms mixed cheap milk materials to package with labels claiming false protein levels to sell at high prices. Such ingredients have a major percentage of fat, no vitamins and very little protein - less than 2 percent compared with the standard of between 11 and 15 percent set by the World Health Organization.

Consumers wary

After the dubious milk products were made public, consumers have become very anxious about choosing dairy items.

Many consumers have even brought with them the list of products to avoid when shopping, a milk vendor in District 3 said.

Duong Thi Quynh Trang, the external manager of the Big C supermarket chain, said the firm has withdrawn the blacklisted Dollac 2 product from circulation.

Big C has also asked its milk suppliers to send back the test results of their products within 10 days, Trang said.

Earlier delays

In May 2007, the Health Department blacklisted 10 soy sauce makers whose products contained the carcinogen 3-MCPD.

But media investigations later revealed the department had in fact been aware of the problem since 2001 and had discovered at least 20 tainted soy sauce brands in 2005 and 2006 that were never publicized.

The press reports infuriated the public, prompting the HCMC Inspectorate to step into action.

Nguyen Duc An, the then health department inspector chief was sacked in September 2007. Nguyen The Dung, the former department director, was transferred to another job while his deputy Le Truong Giang was reprimanded.

Last month, the Ministry of Interior instructed the HCMC government to revoke the dismissal decision against An.

The ministry said the city had flouted regulations by not setting up a panel to review An’s sacking. The ministry also found there were not enough grounds to penalize An for dereliction of duty in overseeing the withdrawal and destruction of 3- MCPD-tainted soy sauce products in 2005 and 2006.

Reported by Thanh Nien staff