At a press briefing on August 11, Lieutenant Colonel Cao Viet Hai, Head of the Economic Police Department of Phu Tho Provincial Police, stated that the unit had dismantled a production and trafficking ring involving counterfeit health food products linked to Fusi Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company (referred to as Fusi Company).
Fusi Company signed contracts to produce health supplements for multiple other companies
In July 2025, the Investigation Police Agency of Phu Tho Provincial Police initiated a criminal case and charged three suspects for forging documents of agencies and organizations, as well as using counterfeit documents, in Vinh Tuong commune, Phu Tho province.
During the investigation, authorities seized 31 types of health food products from Thao Nguyen Xanh Group Co., Ltd., totaling over 716,000 film-coated tablets, 1,806 liters of liquid products, and 31,710 grams of powdered products.
Expanding the investigation, on August 1, the Investigation Police Agency of Phu Tho Provincial Police issued additional decisions to prosecute the criminal case and detain Duong Hung Thinh (52 years old, Director of Fusi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) for producing and trading counterfeit food products.
The investigation revealed that from November 2020 to June 2025, Fusi Company signed contracts to produce 37 types of health supplements for Thao Nguyen Xanh Group Co., Ltd.
Forensic results confirmed that 14 of these products were counterfeit health supplements, with a total value exceeding 875 million VND.
Additionally, authorities determined that Fusi Company had signed contracts to produce health supplements for multiple companies, with a total published value of 137 billion VND.
Over 11 million functional food pills seized
Concurrently, Phu Tho Provincial Police also dismantled a ring involved in producing and trading banned goods, forging documents of agencies and organizations, and using counterfeit documents in Phu Tho province and other related localities, linked to Santex Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company (Thanh Oai Industrial Cluster, Hanoi).
The Investigation Police Agency of Phu Tho Provincial Police prosecuted the case and charged six suspects, including Le Van Hieu, Director of Santex Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, and Do Van Cuong, Director of ROPTHAR Vietnam Herbal Co., Ltd., for producing and trading banned goods, as well as forging and using counterfeit documents.
To date, authorities have seized over 11 million counterfeit functional food pills and nearly 77,000 liters of liquid solutions.
The investigation found that from 2018 onward, Hieu, Cuong, and their associates produced and distributed tens of millions of counterfeit functional foods and health supplements, earning illicit profits amounting to thousands of billions of VND.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Cao Viet Hai, these individuals colluded with licensed production units to create products with exaggerated ingredient claims on packaging and labels. They then used fake documents to obtain mass production permits and distributed substandard products at low prices to attract consumers.
Major General Nguyen Minh Tuan, Director of Phu Tho Provincial Police, noted that these cases were unique in that the factories were established in large-scale industrial clusters in Hanoi, rather than small workshops.
“Santex Company alone produced and processed products for over 200 pharmaceutical companies. At this company, we seized dozens of tons of products. Phu Tho Provincial Police are continuing investigations to recover additional products,” Major General Tuan stated.
The Ministry of Health has recently drafted amendments to Decree No. 15 to address regulatory gaps in food safety management. The proposal includes stricter oversight of product registration dossiers, similar to regulations in some European countries.
