Vietnam fines URC P12M for lead content of beverage products

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has imposed a $260,000 (P12 million) fine against Philippine food maker Universal Robina Corp. (URC) Vietnam after tests found that its flagship beverage brand C2 and Rong-Do have high lead content.

Thanhnien News, a Vietnamese news website, noted URC Vietnam was fined for violating food safety regulations as excessive lead content was discovered in a batch of C2 green tea manufactured on February 4, 2016. A batch of Rong-Do energy drink produced on November 10, 2015 was also discovered to have high lead content.

The drinks were found to have lead content at 0.053 to 0.085 milligram per liter or above the allowable limit of 0.05 mg/l.

In an emailed statement on Wednesday, URC Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs Renato Salud said the Vietnam unit has immediately conformed to the findings and "paid the said fine."

"We are encouraged by the fact that following the strict audit of our factory operations in Hanoi and collection of 30 samples of finished goods and raw materials used therein, the findings were confined and limited to two specific batches of finished goods," Salud noted.

"It will be remembered that a total of five batches of goods were initially tagged as having exceeded standards," he said.

Last month, URC Vietnam was ordered to recall batches of C2 and Rong-Do from the market. However, around VND3.9 billion ($174,000) worth of the drinks were already sold and could not be retrieved, according to the Vietnamese news site.

The lead contamination controversy was apparently one of biggest food safety scandals in Vietnam, it noted.

The Vietnamese Health Ministry has also identified three other batches of URC products with high lead content and ordered a recall. No fine has yet been imposed on, possibly because the ministry is still trying to determine the exact number of tainted bottles.

"URC reiterates its commitment to full compliance with product safety standards wherever it operates as we look forward to providing the consumers the same products of the highest quality that they have come to expect from URC throughout the years," Salud said.

URC earlier said its products in the Philippines were safe, including the C2 bottled tea drink.

"In the Philippines, all URC products remain fully compliant with food standards," the company said.

Also the Food and Drug Administration confirmed that the products recalled in Vietnam have not entered the local market.

"We have the locally produced 355 ml (C2), while the 230 ml C2 is imported from Vietnam but is not part of the affected batches recalled by Vietnamese authorities," FDA Director-General Maria Lourdes Santiago said in an emailed statement on June 4.

"Just the same, our field inspectors will continuously monitor the subject products to ensure food safety as what FDA is mandated to do," Santiago added. – Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News