Vietnamese regulatory agencies are pointing fingers at each other over the question of which of them should be held responsible for Chinese fruits bearing fake U.S.-grown labels, which are widely sold at local markets.

Chinese fruits imported to Thu Duc Agriculture Wholesale Market are distributed to smaller wholesale markets, and finally to traditional markets and fruit stores citywide, with their Chinese origins ‘erased’ and replaced with bogus stamps claiming they were grown in the U.S. or New Zealand.

A fruit seller holds a U.S. apple (L) and a Chinese apple as she poses for a photograph in Ho Chi Minh City.

Thu Duc market is the largest wholesale market for fruit and agro-produce in Ho Chi Minh City, and it also supplies produce for the southern city’s neighboring areas.

A number of consumers have purchased and eaten what they believed to be U.S. apples, oranges, pears, or grapes, while they were in fact grown in China.

No one sells Chinese fruits?

Even though several hundred metric tons of Chinese fruits arrive at Thu Duc Agriculture Wholesale Market every night, from which they are immediately distributed, no fruit sellers, from supermarkets to small markets, will admit that they are selling Chinese-grown products.

Co.op Mart, Big C, and Lotte Mart said none of the apples available at supermarkets under their management are from China.

There are only apples from the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand on the shelves at these locations, according to an observation by Tuoi Tre.

Major fruit stores in Districts 1 and 4 also claim their fruits are from the U.S., New Zealand, or Chile, while none are from China.

“As consumers are losing trust in Chinese fruits, some traders have placed fake U.S.-grown labels on their products to ‘assure’ buyers,” Thu Nga, a wholesaler at a market in Hoc Mon District, revealed.

Despite bearing U.S. labels, Chinese fruits are sold at low prices and “consumers who are attracted to the cheap prices will be fooled,” Nga said.

(Source: tuoitrenews)