As report from Vietnamnet, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on its official website that several hundred batches of food exports from Vietnamese enterprises within the first 6 months in 2007 had been rejected for some specific reasons, i.e. hygienic problems, not including product testing information and lacking information about the products.
 
“We did not export the products”

As such, several enterprises which were on the FDA’s list of enterprises having rejected exports said that they did not know anything about that until they read the news on VietNamNet. They also said that they did not export the products mentioned on this list.

Ms Nguyen Thuy Van, Head of the Quality Assurance Division under the HCM City-based Mekophar, which has the ‘Lingzhi Capsules - 66VAE99’ exports rejected for the reason that they did not have product testing information in spite of being the new pharmaceutical product, said that  “As for ‘Lingzhi Capsules - 66VAE99’, Mekophar only sold the product on the domestic market and did not intend to export this  product. That’s why our company did not submit a product testing file. I think someone would have bought our product in Vietnam and then took it to the US to sell there. If our company exported, we would completed the procedures and documents”

Similarly, according to Mr Nguyen Duc Quyet, Head of the Import-Export Division under Ace Cook Vietnam, whose Seafood Flavour Instant Noodle was rejected for not showing the material content of the product, and containing impurities in the product, Ace Cook did not export this product (Vermicelli - 04CGT07). “We only sell this product on the domestic market. I supposed some individuals or abroad compatriots bought it retail, as buying miscellaneous things ” said Mr Quyet.

Enterprises did not comply with international rules

As for Trung Nguyen Coffee Company case, it has confirmed not showing the material content of the product, and did not provide information about nutrition and lipids for ‘G7 Instant 3 in 1 Coffee (Bag 24) - 31AGT03’, for which the product was rejected.

Mrs Vo Thi Ha Giang, Head of the Public Affairs of Trung Nguyen Coffee Company, said that the company had exported many batches of coffee of the same kind to the US. However, this batch of exports was rejected after a lot of cases of unhygienic imports from China had prompted the FDA to tighten regulations on food hygiene and more strictly examine the ingredients shown on the labels, especially, the food quality.

 “Our products were taken the sample for testing quality by FDA and FDA concluded that they met its hygiene and food safety requirements on the US market. The reason that the FDA rejected those exports was a technical problem with packaging, i.e. not showing the ingredient content on the package of G7 satchels/stick coinciding with the wrapped bags and boxes outside. FDA has asked us to correct this mistake and will allow us to re-export the batch of coffee,” said Mrs Giang.

According to Mrs Giang, her company has adjusted the packages of G7 instant coffee product and reviewed other products more carefully, including Trung Nguyen traditional coffee items. Currently, everything has been settled, and the batch of coffee is now on its way back to the US.

Talking about the experience drawn from this case, she supposed, Vietnam enterprises has thought that the US, Japan...are the “strict” exporting markets, but in fact, they have not complied with the international regulations, requirements and commitments on quality, packaging, label...

” Vietnamese enterprises always make products for both domestic consumption and export, while there is a big gap in the requirements or regulations of the domestic and world’s markets. Therefore, the enterprises that plan to conquer the international market not only need good strategies and much ambition but also should get international certificates like Eurogap, HACCAP or Halal”, she added.