Baby formula producers evade price declaration A customer chooses Enfa A+ baby formula at Co.op Mart Dinh Tien Hoang in Ho Chi Minh City, January 15, 2013. Photo: Tuoi Tre Several baby formula producers are selling their milk powder products under additional or nutritional food labels in order to avoid reporting their price hikes to authorities, as per a new regulation. Prior to announcing any price adjustment on baby formula products for children under six, businesses are now required to report the new prices to the Price Management Agency under the Ministry of Finance, according to the Law on Price that took effect January 1. Producers have thus turned to selling their products under labels indicating that read are not baby milk, though they are, in fact, formula. For instance, the Anfalac A+ for babies under six months of age, Anfakid A+ for those above three, and Friso Gold for kids between one and three now have labels that read “additional food.” Similarly, the packing for Lactogen Gold 2 states that it is a “nutritional formula for babies between six and 12 months old.” Some customers have noticed the label changes, but they have been assured by vendors that the products have not changed. “I asked a vendor about a product that is labeled ‘nutritional food’, but he told me that it is the normal baby formula I used to buy,” said Le Thuy Huong, a Hanoi mother. Not easy to stop FrieslandCampina Vietnam said it has labeled Friso Gold as “additional food” in order to follow the recommendation of the Ministry of Health. “Friso Gold is a baby powder milk product, but it is recommended that breast milk is the major source of nutrition for babies under six months, and milk powder is only an additional source,” the company’s customer service department said. The Price Management Agency, meanwhile, said it has acknowledged the phenomenon of failing to have the producers report their price adjustments. “The producers said they don’t have to report the adjustments as the products are not baby formula,” an agency representative said. “Our agency is thus unable to watch over their price increases to see if they are raised by a reasonable amount or not.” The agency said it will have to continue to observe the manufacturers and try to find a solution to report to the finance ministry. “But it will not be an easy task,” the representative said. “The Ministry of Finance may have to ask the National Assembly to list additional and nutritional foods as a commodity that has to declare prices.” TuoitreNews