Many companies regularly pay VND15,000 (.72 US cents) per lunch meal per worker, but the actual cost of the meals is only VND10,000, and the difference goes to the person who places orders, a Tuoi Tre investigation has found. By pretending to be someone who wanted to place orders for workers’ meals, Tuoi Tre correspondents met a man who identified himself simply as Tuan, the owner of an establishment that provides workers’ meals for companies in Di An Town, Binh Duong Province.

Tuan said, “We can provide meals at VND10,000 each but we can issue invoices showing that the value of a meal is VND12,000 or higher, at the request of the person who places orders with us. We will make invoices showing the value at the request of our customers. We have to do so to keep clients, otherwise they would seek other meal providers.”

HP Co. Ltd on Thoai Ngoc Hau Street in Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City, which provides worker’s meals for companies in the Tan Binh Industrial Park and nearby areas, told Tuoi Tre that they do the same thing.

HP can provide meals at VND12,000 each, but the value on the invoice will be VND15,000, which means the person who orders the meals will enjoy the difference of VND3,000.

On August 24, at OM, a workers’ meal provider in Thuan An Town, Binh Duong, Trinh Thi Ngoc Nga said she can make invoices in which the value of a meal is shown to be between VND11,000 and 15,000, depending on her clients’ request. In fact the meals only cost VND8,000. According to Tuoi Tre’s investigation, Nga provided such meals to four companies in the province’s Di An and Thuan An Districts. BM, one of the companies, wanted the invoice value of a meal to be VND11,000, but paid Nga VND10,000. The company then received about 3,000 rations from the woman. At a recent seminar on the quality of workers’ meals held by the Health Ministry’s Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, many experts warned that millions of workers at 256 industrial parks and export processing zones face malnutrition or even food poisoning due to poor quality meals at work.

Experts blamed the situation on companies that have paid little attention to the quality of their workers’ meals. They cooked meals themselves or bought meals from outside at dirt cheap prices at which the meals cannot meet nutrition requirements or food safety regulations. Nguyen Van Dat, head of the provincial Sub-department of Food Safety and Hygiene, said a meal should be worth VND15,000 so that it can meet basic nutritional standards. The National Nutrition Institute warned that poor quality workers’ meals would undermine their health and lead to a decline in their productivity.

Nguyen Hung Long, deputy head of the Department Food Safety and Hygiene said the agency would propose the Vietnam Labor Confederation and the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs promulgate regulations on specific standards for workers' meals.