An employee has been caught re-labeling a dozen of processed food products that were past expiration date at a Big C outlet in the north-central province of Nghe An, police said Friday.

N. H. T., 37, was replacing the expiry date labels on 13 packs of dried squids when police inspected the French supermarket in Vinh, the provincial capital city, on February 20.

Officers then seized the products, collectively worth VND2.5 million (US$112), and 13 stamps of the old expiry dates for investigation.

Vinh police said on Friday they had transferred the case to the Nghe An police department for further investigation into the supermarket’s selling of expired products.

Bach Yen, secretary of director with Big C Vinh, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper the same day that the incident “is a misunderstanding,” but refused to provide further information.

She asked Tuoi Tre to contact the outlet’s PR representative Nguyen Thanh Huyen via email.

In an email response, Huyen said she was briefed about the incident and promised to reply as soon as possible.

But the case was confirmed to Tuoi Tre by Tran Dinh Chien, head of the environmental unit with Vinh police, on Friday.

The provincial police department is investigating the case, he added.

The Big C outlet occupies four floors of a 20-story building in Vinh, featuring some 25,000 merchandises and is considered the biggest shopping venue in the north-central city.

The supermarket was opened in November 2010.

The Big C operations in Vietnam are currently operated by France’s Casino Group, which announced in December last year that it is seeking a new owner for the chain.

A Big C Vietnam representative said in mid-February that the French mass retailer however is only in the initial phase of transferring its Vietnamese business.

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