On the afternoon of March 24, the Ho Chi Minh City Food Safety Department officially announced the handling results of the Kera vegetable gummy case involving the Sister Em Rot Group Joint Stock Company.

The Chief Inspector of the Food Safety Department issued a decision to impose an administrative fine of $5,300 on the company for two violations related to the Kera vegetable gummies.

Labeling violations

The first violation involved producing, importing, transporting, storing, or selling goods with labels (including sub-labels) or accompanying documents that did not fully or correctly display the mandatory content required on product labels or failed to meet labeling regulations.

Specifically, during the inspection, the label on the self-published product file and the actual label of the Supergreens Gummies dietary supplement did not include mandatory information, such as:

Missing the term “net weight.”

The apple flavor ingredient did not specify whether it was natural, natural-like, synthetic, or artificial.

The food additive "citric acid" did not state the additive group as required.

The product testing revealed the presence of sorbitol, which was not indicated on the product label.

Nutritional discrepancies

The second violation involved producing, importing, selling, and distributing food, food additives, processing aids, tools, packaging, or containers in direct contact with food that did not match the product information as declared.

Specifically, the nutritional values, including energy, protein content, total sugar content, carbohydrate content, total fat content, and sodium content, did not align with the declared information on the self-published product label.

Energy: 9.62 kcal/3.2 g (declared as 10 kcal/3.2 g).

Protein content: 0.29 g/3.2 g (declared as 0.287 g/3.2 g).

Total sugar: 0.71 g/3.2 g (declared as 0.995 g/3.2 g).

Carbohydrate content: 2.17 g/3.2 g (declared as 2.29 g/3.2 g).

Total fat: Not detected (declared as 0.011 g/3.2 g).

Sodium content: 7.2 mg/3.2 g (declared as 6.43 mg/3.2 g).

Penalties and corrective measures

The Ho Chi Minh City Food Safety Department outlined several remedial measures:

Mandatory recall and proper labeling before resuming circulation.

Withdrawal and destruction of non-compliant labels.

Disposal or repurposing of goods with inseparable non-compliant labels.

Repayment of the value equivalent to the administrative violation assets that were consumed, dispersed, or illegally destroyed.

Revocation of the self-published product certificate for non-compliant products.

Ngan Anh