Dutch Lady in no relationship with troublesome Holland Milk: brand owner FrieslandCampina Vietnam

A FrieslandCampina Vietnam (FCV) representative has asserted that there’s no connection between the firm’s Dutch Lady milk brand and Holland Milk JSC, whose general director was arrested last Friday for producing and selling counterfeit food products.

The FCV rep said Dutch Lady was a liquid milk brand, while Holland Milk was involved in the production and sale of powdered milk, which has been found counterfeit.

There has been some confusion that has affected the Dutch Lady brand, making a clarification necessary.

He noted that the Vietnam Dairy Association has also said Holland Milk was not a member of the association and has no connection to the Dutch Lady brand.

On August 30, the Ministry of Public Security reported that the police of Chi Linh town in the northern province of Hai Duong had detained Nguyen Trung Vuong, general director of Holland Milk, for "producing and selling counterfeit food products."

Earlier, in late 2022, the environmental police department under the Ministry of Public Security had initiated an enquiry into the alleged production and sale of counterfeit food products at Holland Milk JSC, located at 335 Tran Cung street in the capital city’s Bac Tu Liem district.

Investigations revealed that Vuong directly instructed the company’s staff at every stage of production and product distribution, which was primarily done through computer networks and Zalo groups. Zalo is a popular messaging app in the country.

Investigators seized 67 samples of finished products (equivalent to 33 product types from eight companies produced at the Holland Milk factory), of them 66 were tested. About 29,400 cans/cartons of milk valued at more than VND4.1 billion ($164,824) were found with quality indicators below 70% compared to information on their labels.

Inspectors seized 25,667 boxes of products serving investigation. 2,011 cartons valued at approximately VND320 million ($12,864), which had already been sold to consumers, have not yet been recovered.

Holland Milk was established on May 25, 2016, with Vuong, 41, as its legal representative and general director. The company, with an initial charter capital of VND6 billion ($241,206), has processing milk and dairy products as its registered core business.