According to information from the Vietnam Trade Office in Sweden, hundreds of tons of rice have just been detained in Sweden after a large-scale investigation into suspected quality fraud.

According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Sweden, the Swedish Food Safety Authority coordinated with the police, the Labor Environment Agency, Customs and many cities to carry out this campaign to inspect rice distributors.

More than 600 tonnes of basmati rice were tested and serious problems were found, including insects, expired rice and tampered with date labels. In some cases, distributors were unable to provide information about the origin of the rice.

Only 5% of the rice tested met the quality standards. At the only rice mill in Eskilstuna, authorities discovered ungraded rice being repackaged as basmati rice during a surprise inspection.

The city authorities have prosecuted the company for violating the Food Law, falsifying documents and making false declarations. However, according to the head of the preliminary investigation, Anton Larsson Forsberg, the police have not taken any concrete action. In total, 20 companies in 6 cities were inspected, with 5 companies banned from selling and 14 companies having to correct their labels.

This move by Sweden once again shows that this is a market with many strict regulations on products. Talking to reporters of the Industry and Trade Newspaper, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoang Thuy – Trade Counselor in Sweden said that Sweden in particular and the Nordic region in general have many strict regulations and criteria on imported goods, including rice. Therefore, businesses must pay special attention to market regulations in order to maintain market share for products and goods.

For Vietnamese rice, in recent times, the Trade Office has sought every solution to bring rice into Vietnam and the Swedish market.

Accordingly, before 2019, Vietnamese rice was almost absent from the Swedish market. After mobilizing the Vietnamese business community in Sweden to “prioritize trading Vietnamese goods”, the Trade Office actively introduced and promoted Vietnamese rice. At the same time, it encouraged and supported Asian importers to import goods. Fortunately, overseas Vietnamese businesses in Sweden have actively cooperated with the Trade Office to promote and sell Vietnamese rice in this market.

“After 3 years, Vietnam’s rice export turnover to the Swedish market has increased from several tens of thousands of USD to 3 – 4 million USD. Although the turnover is not large, but with the joint efforts of the community, we believe that Vietnamese rice in particular and Vietnamese goods will increasingly be present in Sweden in particular and many places in the world. world”, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoang Thuy shared.

Published Date: October 28, 2024