A Ho Chi Minh City-based firm was able to sell its nutritional products under the name of baby formulas at many kindergartens in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta by offering attractive commissions, but the products were subject to a forced recall due to poor quality last week.

The Consumer Protection Association of Tien Giang Province requested on Friday that Mien Dong JSC recall two lots of its baby formulas as the dairy products failed to pass quality tests in Ho Chi Minh City.

The company, based in the city’s Binh Tan District, is required to run notices in the local media in five consecutive days to tell the public why the products were pulled off shelves as per law, the association said.

Samples of the US-Sure deluxe nutrition and the US-Sure height development products, produced by Mien Dong Co, were sent to the Institute of Hygiene and Public Health for tests on July 17, following complaints from parents whose children were fed the products at their kindergartens.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based institute released the results on August 1, saying the nutrition facts listed on the product labels are far higher than real contents.

Following the recall order, Nguyen Van Minh, head of organization at Mien Dong Co, apologized to customers and committed himself to recalling all of the poor-quality products.

Hefty commissions

Mien Dong Co has signed contracts to sell their nutritional foods to many preschools in Tien Giang and other Mekong Delta provinces. In all contracts, price lists, and promotional programs, the company claimed the products are baby formulas, even though their labels display otherwise.

According to a contract inked on June 9, Mien Dong would supply two cardboard boxes of Frisure Gold A+ powder milk per month to Bao Loc kindergarten.

“We agreed to buy the products because the company said they are baby milk,” Le Thi Anh, the school’s manager, said. “Our kids need to drink milk daily, not any nutritional foods.”

Anh said the Frisure Gold A+ was recommended by one of the school teachers, adding that she has no idea regarding the product quality.

To win more contracts, Mien Dong Co promised to pay school managers commissions ranging from 23 percent to 32 percent, plus a number of other promotional programs.

Preschools that sign contracts with the company will receive ‘monetary support’ from VND300,000 to VND1 million (US$14-47) per cardboard box on such occasions as school year opening and closing ceremonies, or Vietnamese Teachers’ Day.

All of the discounts, commissions, and incentives account for up to 50 percent of the value of the products, which are sold at less than VND200,000 ($9) a can.

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