Fake, dubious and unbranded cakes, foods, construction materials and clothes are widely sold in Ho Chi Minh City, especially as Tet, or the Lunar New Year is drawing near.
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| HCMC authorities caught Thanh Phat company red-handed making fake curry powder. |
Canned cakes are on sale at Binh Tay market in District 6 but although their tin cans (500-700gr) bear Malaysian and Thai names, the cakes themselves are made and wrapped in right in Vietnam.
Fish sauce branded NN is sold for VND16,000 (82 cents) per 750ml bottle but a copycat with the same name, ingredients, company address and other ‘standards’ are sold for VND5,000 cheaper.
Recently, Ho Chi Minh City authorities have caught red-handed a company in Binh Tan District making phony curry powder bearing Vianco brand. Around 1,500 packets (20g) were seized.
Vianco said a dozen other firms were faking its products, to be sold widely in Ho Chi Minh City and distributed down south to Ben Tre or An Giang provinces in the Mekong Delta.
According to CEO Chau Thinh Lan, Vianco’s vanilla powder and five-spice powder have been rampantly faked, causing sales to drop by 30% this year.
Bogus cosmetics and fabric softeners are also detected in Tan Phu and Binh Tan districts. The latter are sold at VND1,000 per packet while a branded one costs VND1,350.
Construction materials too have found their way in.
The city has fined Tan An Binh company in Tan Phu district VND48 million and confiscated 1,000 bags of fake wall mastic bearing Dulux and Joton brand names. Inspectors also seized 802 empty bags ‘branded’ AB Duluxusa, an obvious copycat after the registered Dulux trademark.
Unclear origin
A large part of food and foodstuff at markets of Binh Tay (District 6), An Dong (District 5), and Ben Thanh (District 1) have unclear origins, mostly involving monosodium glutamate, sugar, dried food, cakes, melon seeds and pumpkin seeds.
At Binh Tay, the seeds are stored in a big unlabelled bag and upon inquiry, the seller would say they come from China. They are of course cheaper than their authentic counterparts.
Likewise, monosodium glutamate purportedly from China is on sale at 20 percent lower.
Recently, 2,700 barrels of carrots (10kg per barrel) and 212 barrels of apples supposedly sourced from China have been seized for lack of certificates at Tam Binh market in Thu Duc District.
Meanwhile, copycat clothes and handbags are on offer at Saigon Square – a popular market for foreigners, and Ben Thanh market in downtown city. Last week, authorities detected 10 cases involving fake fashion clothes or those of unclear origins, mostly imported from China.