Hanoi-based food processor Vietfoods has said a wrong claim about sausage safety by the Hanoi market monitoring authority has delivered a heavy blow to the company.

A representative of Vietfoods JSC speaks at a press conference in HCMC on Sunday.

The firm told reporters in HCMC on Sunday that losses had resulted from a production disruption and a return of tens of tons of sausages, triggered by the Hanoi market monitoring authority’s claim that Vietfoods sausages contained a cancer-causing substance.

Unit No.14 of the Hanoi branch of the Market Monitoring Authority on April 20 seized a shipment of 2.2 tons of Vietfoods sausages to Hung Anh Trading Food Co Ltd in Hanoi on suspicion that a banned substance was used in the sausages.

The shipment consisted of smoked sausages, German Vietfoods sausages, and Frankfurter and Thai-style Vietfoods sausages. Tests of samples taken from the seized items showed Sodium Nitrate 251 which the firm used as an additive totaled 89-100 milligram per kilo.

The market monitors then imposed an administrative fine on Vietfoods and sent images and video footage to news organizations announcing that the Vietfoods sausages contained a cancer-causing substance.

However, at a press conference in HCMC on Sunday, Vietfoods provided a document issued on May 23 by the Ministry of Health’s Food Safety Association says Sodium Nitrate 251 was not on the list of banned substances for food. The association affirmed the content level of 55-100mg per kilo was safe for users.

 “Since over a month ago, production has been halted, more than 100 workers have been laid off and deliveries have been either seized or returned, which have caused an estimated loss of tens of billions of dong,” Vietfoods said in a statement.

Lawyer Nguyen Van Duc, Vietfoods’ legal representative, said, “The irresponsible statement made by Unit No.14 (of the Market Monitoring Authority) has put the enterprise on the verge of bankruptcy.”

Vietfoods will find it hard to regain its market share and consumer confidence, he said, requesting the responsible market monitors to make apologies to Vietfoods in newspapers.

He said the company might weigh taking legal action if they failed to do as requested. The Market Monitoring Authority’s Hanoi branch has promised to do what is requested.

With monthly capacity of 600 tons, the Vietfoods factory in the southern province of Binh Duong has been running at 10% capacity since the contamination claim made headlines.