The functional food market is developing well thanks to increasing demand of consumers. However, loopholes in management have paved the way for poor quality products to be sold widely, putting public health at risk. The news site of the Vietnam Food Safety Authority (VFA – under the Ministry of Health) has recently warned that several functional food products might make people misunderstand that they are medicines, which violates regulations on food advertising. Earlier, the VFA fined individuals and firms for over advertising their functional food products. Although relevant agencies have dealt with violators, breaches relating to functional food advertising still happen. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Khanh Phong Lan, director of the HCMC Department of Food Safety cum chairperson of the HCMC Pharmaceutical Association, told The Saigon Times that the increasing demand for functional food products has prompted the production of quite a few such products, including fake ones, which are beyond consumers’ knowledge. E-commerce, multi-level marketing, and trans-border advertising have made it hard for the management of functional food business. “We are lacking regulations for the management of online trading of functional food products,” Lan said. “Buying such products on social media, customers are at high risk of buying fake […]
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