Acecook Vietnam has lodged a petition to the Vietnam Competition Authority against Masan Food, accusing it of false advertising.
An image from Masan\'s TV commercial
According to Acecook Vietnam, Masan Food’s recently launched advertising campaign for its Tien Vua instant noodles contained information that could mislead consumers and directly affect its business.
The message, which uses a striking image of two different bowls of noodles in light and dark yellow soup, suggested that the dark yellow soup contained harmful colouring.
Acecook Vietnam said this advertisement would imply to consumers that other brands of noodle soups could be potentially harmful to consumers, adding that colouring is just one of various factors contributing a product colour besides ingredients, processing technology, and frying duration and temperature.
Acecook Vietnam noted that Masan Food’s advertisement was unfair as up to 80% of noodle market share is held by major manufacturers who meet the requirements for food hygiene and safety.
However, Masan Food denied Acecook Vietnam’s accusation, saying that its advertisement is completely legal.
Truong Cong Thang, its CEO, was cited by Tuoi Tre as saying that, “Tien Vua would never mislead consumers about quality.”
Masan Food refused to explain the advertisement content but went on to accuse Acecook of deliberately attempting to affect its business and in turn has sued Acecook for violating competition laws.
The Vietnam Competition Authority said it had received the complaints, but was yet to take action.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Health’s Department of Food Safety and Hygiene which allowed Masan’s advertisement will soon ask the company to correct the content of the advert.
Food colouring
According to the Masan Food advert, noodles that cause the soup to turn dark yellow contain Tartrazine E102 colouring. Ironically, DTiNews have found that several noodle brands of Masan itself such as Tien Vua and Omachi, which are widely available on the market, also explicitly list Tartrazine E102 colouring as one of the ingredients on their packaging.
Masan\'s Omachi instant noodles still contains E102
Masan\'s Tien Vua instant noodles also contains E102
Meanwhile, earlier, Masan claimed that E102 colouring was classified as a toxin through Japanese, US and European documentation.
A representative from a major Ho Chi Minh City-based advertising firm said that Masan had not thought through its advert. It warned customers about food colouring, while its own products continued to contain colouring.
According to the latest information issued by the Vietnamese Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, the use of Tartrazine E102 remains safe to consume, a position backed by European Food Authority evidence released in 2009 that showed that no scientific evidence existed proving that E102 was unsafe for human consumption.
Currently, some countries, including Japan and South Korea, restrict the use of E102 due to fears over food allergies. European countries and the US still allow the use of E102 in food processing, the department added.