Vitasoy: Encyclopedia II - Vitasoy - Scandals

Vitasoy - Scandals

There were two scandals of Vitasoy, which happened in Hong Kong and, later in Shanghai respectively.

Vitasoy - Hong Kong

In late October 1995, Vitasoy recalled the first batch of its single-serve soya bean drink in Hong Kong. Some customers complained that the drink tasted like kerosene. At the beginning, the company blamed the blender on a faulty steam filter in its Tuen Mun factory. Hong Kong Department of Health investigated and said it found "no evidence of a health risk." The incident was in a little while forgotten and had no impact abroad, together with mainland China and the U.S., two huge markets where Vitasoy was swiftly increasing its presence.

Just before the 1995 incident has barely abated, however, the company again received complaints about its products. This time, Vitasoy said a bad batch might have come from its Shenzhen plant, just across the border from Hong Kong. The facility had opened in February 1994 but started producing to full capacity only recently. When more complaints about sour-tasting soymilk came early in 1996, Vitasoy shut down the entire 203,000-square-foot Shenzhen factory, which accounts for 30% of total production, for a month for an investigation. It also recalled 8 million paper packs of soymilk in Hong Kong.

After that two more complaints were received. This time, the drinks in question were processed in Tuen Mun. After three more bad products turned up, Vitasoy also closed the Hong Kong facility. Although the sour taste was detected only in soymilk, it recalled all Tetra Brik Vitasoy and VITA brand drinks from shelves in Hong Kong and Macau. Vitasoy said none of the tainted batches were exported elsewhere and bottled drinks, which account for a third of sales, were not affected. By January 16 in 1996, 13.1 million units had been pulled off the market. Vitasoy estimated it would end up with 43 million packs in all, including stocks it had not delivered to retailers. The company was working with the Environmental Protection Department on a plan of disposal of more than 10 million litres of liquid. Health officials stressed that while bacteria levels in the affected drinks were 1,000 times more than normal, there did not seem to be a health risk, only a foul taste.

Vitasoy - Shanghai

On 30 May 2005, according to press reports in mainland China, Vitasoy was ordered by Shanghai's authority to recall as many as 400,000 packs of coconut-favoured Vitasoy soybean milk due to the use of expired raw materials. The company indicated that the relevant products were not sold in Hong Kong and the raw materials used were only after the "best before date" instead of expired.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Scandals", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki