Police deliver legal documents to the owners of a fake vinegar facility recently uncovered in Da Nang City, central Vietnam. Photo: H.B.
Investigators identified the operators as 45-year-old Kieu Van Thanh and his wife, 42-year-old Bui Song Hau, who ran a vinegar production site in An Khe Ward.
Instead of brewing rice vinegar through natural fermentation, they allegedly diluted two liters of industrial acid with 100 liters of well water to produce counterfeit vinegar labeled as brown rice vinegar.
On Friday, the city’s economic police division detained Thanh and placed Hau under house arrest.
Both were charged with producing and trading counterfeit food products.
Finished bottles of counterfeit vinegar are seized at a business facility in Da Nang City, central Vietnam. Photo: H.B.
During a raid on the business facility, officers seized more than 2,000 bottles of fake vinegar, equivalent to over 2,000 liters, along with 20 containers of concentrated acetic acid totaling approximately 600 liters.
Authorities estimated the stockpile could yield 30,000 liters of fake vinegar.
Health experts warned that vinegar made from industrial acid could damage the stomach, cause neurological poisoning, cancer, or even death if the acid concentration exceeds safe limits.
Police are expanding the investigation to identify the full distribution network.
On Thursday, the economic police unit also dismantled another operation producing nearly 38,000 bottles of counterfeit bird’s nest drink.
Police catch a business facility in Da Nang City, central Vietnam in the act of producing fake vinegar. Photo: H.B.
Inside a counterfeit vinegar production site in Da Nang City, central Vietnam. Photo: H.B.
The facility’s owners are shown with seized bottles of fake vinegar. Photo: H.B.
Labels falsely describe the product as ‘brown rice vinegar.’ Photo: H.B.
The facility where counterfeit vinegar was manufactured. Photo: H.B.
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