Vietnamese consumers now say “no” to Similac formulas

After Abbott Laboratories Inc. announced it is recalling Similac brand beetle-tainted powder formulas, Vietnamese consumers have become hesitant to purchase Similac brand products.

The milk shops on Hang Buom Street in Hanoi these days receive a lot of people who come to ask information about Similac brand beetle-tainted powder formula. Nguyen Thi Hien, a customer, looked for a tin of Similac Gain. She carefully read the information written down on the label of the tin, especially the information about the manufacturing plant. However, Hien still felt insecure about the product and she decided to purchase products of another brand instead.

“I am so worried after reading the information about the beetle-tainted powder milk, because my son likes drinking Similac formulas,” Hien said. Though the boy has got used to drink Similac products, Hien still decided to shift to use other formulas.

Minh Nguyet in Lieu Giai street also thinks this way. She has stopped feeding her boy with Similac brand formula after reading the information about beetle-tainted formula which may badly affect children’s digestion system.

Formula sales agents also feel unhappy these days. Hoa, the owner of a milk shop on Hang Buom street said people come to her shop these days not to buy formulas, but to ask information about Similac brand products. Parents now tend to use other kinds of formulas because they fear the bad products will badly influence their children.

Hoa said that previously, she sold 10-15 tins of Similac brand formulas each day, but she now can sell only two or three tins.

According to local newspaper VnExpress, the products available at formula shops on Hang Buom, Tay Son and at Dong Xuan Market are made in Singapore, Denmark and Ireland, distributed in Vietnam by Abbott Vietnam. The products include Similac Mom, Similac IQ 1, Similac Gain IQ which have the sale prices between 117,000-382,000 dong per tin.

Not only the shops that distribute products imported through official channel, the shops that distribute products carried across the borders to Vietnam by travelers also complain about slow sale.

According to the owners of the shops on Nguyen Son, Tran Duy Hung, Sai Dong, Kim Ma, Hoang Hoa Tham, Hue and Nguyen Thai Hoc streets, the products available here have been sent from abroad by relatives or carried across the borders by travelers. There are many products of these kinds, including Similac GO & GROW 623 gr (510,000 dong), Similac Advance With Early Shield 963 gr (820,000 dong), Similac Neosure 363 gr (410,000 dong), Similac Isomil Advance 963 gr (840,000 dong).

Minh Anh, now living in Dinh Cong residential quarter said she still hesitated to purchase Similac brand formulas, even though the sellers tried to persuade her that the products are safe.

“No one can say for sure if the products contain beetles or not. Abbot has announced the recall of five million tins, which is really a high number of products,” she said.

Thu, the owner of a shop on Hue street, said customers do not know exactly which kinds of products contain beetles, therefore, they hesitate to buy all kinds of products.

“Previously, I could sell 50 tins of formulas per day, while now I can say only several tins per day, even though I have reduced the sale prices by 20 percent,” she said.

Representative of Abbott Vietnam recently affirmed that Similac brand products sold in Vietnam are the products distributed by 3A Pharmaceutical Company which are made in Abbott’s plants in Singapore and Ireland, and that the products are not the subjects of the product recall campaign in the US.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has affirmed that Similac brand products sold in the US, Puerto Rico, Guam Island and some countries, in which beetles found, have not been officially imported to Vietnam. To date, all Similac brand products distributed by 3A Company have been examined and certified as meeting the food hygiene requirements.- VnExpress

Tags: Similac formulas, Vietnam Dairy sector, Vietnam milk prices