A woman buys a milk can from a shop in Hanoi.

The National Food Safety and Hygiene Administration Monday said around 25 percent of milk products inspected had much lower protein contents than their labels indicated.

He said the inspection was conducted in April and May of 35 producers and more than 2,000 retail milk outlets in 14 cities and provinces.

Only 75 percent of the 300 collected samples were found with protein content as labeled. In 2008, only 50 of the inspected samples had properly announced the protein content.

Khan said although the rate of violation has reduced over the past year, consumers are still the ones to suffer from fake claims.

A source from the agency said they found a milk sample taken in Binh Thuan Province with protein content of 0.62 percent, contrasting the 13 percent claimed on its label. Another product had just 1.33 percent protein but had 20 percent on its label.

Some others indicated on their labels a protein content of 30.1-34 percent - but tests found the actual content was between 1.4 and 2.81 percent.

Inspectors also found similar violations in declaring lipid content, including some products of popular brands, the source said.

However, they will conduct more thorough examinations before officially announcing the names of the violators, the source said.

“Most violating products were of small producers, with a remarkable proportion produced in Ho Chi Minh City but sold in other localities like Binh Thuan Province or Hai Phong City,” said the agency’s chief inspector Nguyen Van Nhien.

The batches of violating products would be “suspended and revoked immediately,” he said.

Khan also said his agency will hold more inspections from July onwards to see if there are any other violations from the concerned products and will tighten management of milk quality when approving documents for advertisements by dairy firms.

Improperly advertising the contents of products is also a violation, he said.

In February, the HCMC Institute of Hygiene and Public Health announced that 37 of 99 milk samples tested had protein contents much lower, by up to 30 times, than what was indicated on their labels.

Test results showed Vinacali Co.’s 400-gram packets of Intellac powder milk had only 1.32 percent of protein instead of 28 percent as labeled. Other milk products of the company that were similarly lacking included the 500-gram packs of Intellac powder milk, 400-gram packs of Supermilk for children and the 500-gram Intellac milk for the malnourished.

Inspectors also found labels of several products of the Bich Co Enterprise in Binh Tan District and Thanh Ngoc Co. in District 11, that falsely claimed to contain protein dozens of times higher than the actual content.

Earlier, the city’s Health Department had suspended operations of Binh Tan District-based Hung Lam Joint Stock Company for not putting enough protein in their milk.

The agency also said on February 5 that four milk producers, Nhu Trang (Tan Binh District), Hoang Khang (Binh Chanh District), Tuan Cuong Phat (Binh Tan District) and Dai Hoa (District 6) were fined VND29 million (US$1,663) for not meeting protein requirements in their products.

(Source: The National Food Safety and Hygiene Administration)

Reported by Nam Son