As the traditional Lunar New Year festival (Tet) is coming soon, the need for goods, especially food and foodstuff is increasing. But there is a lot of public concern about counterfeit products.

Everyday, Spring Fair 2007 is packed with visitors and customers who want to buy genuine products.

Tran Thi Tuyet Huong from the An Phat Group said last year her son was poisoned by low quality food and she should be careful to make a choice of safe and hygienic food this Tet.

Sharing Ms Huong’s view, Hong Le from Hoang Cau Company said “I bought a bottle of wine for my father-in-law and it turned out to be counterfeit wine.” But, luckily, relatives realized it. If not who how what could have happened.

This year, enterprises and production units put many new high quality products on the market. Hai Ha Confectionary Company in Hanoi (Haihaco) has launched 40 new products for Tet and its confectionary volume is three-four times more than last Tet’s figure.

Hoang Nguyen from the company’s Trade and Marketing Department, said Haihaco products are made according to the European sanitation standards - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HCCP). Haihaco has participated in the trade fair with the aim of bringing goods to customers’ hands.

Haihaco is a renowned trademark and of course its products are counterfeited. Alcohol is one of its favourite goods which is illegally copied during Tet so the company has paid great attention to anti-counterfeiting by changing their designs.

Do Tuan Hai, branch director of the Dong Xuan Alcohol Agency in Hanoi said this year customers tend to prefer white wine due to a lot of counterfeit products. Customers still prefer domestic products to imported Chinese wine.

Meat pie is also much sought after customers before Tet but it is easily processed with chemicals.

Pham Trung Dung, owner of the Phuc Loc meat pie production establishment in

How to solve the issue of safe and hygienic food is complicated. Most businesses said those who illegally copy products are not heavily fined. They are turning to authorities for assistance so that they can protect their trademarks and boost production.

In a recent online exchange with VOVNews, Tran Dang, the Health Ministry’s Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, said each customer should learn how to tell genuine products from counterfeit ones.

Sharing this view, Do Tuan Hai said while genuine businesses are striving to protect their reputation and customers’ health, customers should know how to protect themselves.