Upon tainted several dozen bottles of Tan Hiep Phat company’s Dr Thanh herbal tea, reportedly containing dregs, the company’s distributor Viet Loan Co., based in the Mekong delta province of Ca Mau, was fined VND12.5 million (US$564.3) for not having a food safety certificate, said Tran Be Ngoan, head of the province’s Food Administration on December 29.
Additionally, the distributor was fined VND4 million (US$180.5) for preserving its products in an unhygienic place.
Before inter-department inspection team paid a visit to Viet Loan company where inspectors uncovered 64 Dr Thanh beverage bottles having dredges inside. Inspectors seized the products and asked the company not to sell to the market.
Dr Thanh, Number 1 energy drink, is produced by Tan Hiep Phat Group, which is facing a boycott from the public after it won a fly-in-bottle lawsuit against a consumer. Customer Vo Van Minh demanded the drink maker pay VND500 million ($23,300) in return for his silence after he discovered a fly in the company’s beverage bottle yet Minh was about to get the cash from a company representative when police officers, informed by Tan Hiep Phat of what it considered ‘Minh’s blackmail,’ showed up to capture him. He was imprisoned seven years on charges of “extortion of assets” |
