Vietnam orders recall of C2 bottled tea drink

The Ministry of Health of Vietnam has ordered the recall of popular bottled tea drink C2 for alleged excessive lead content.

Since May 20, URC Vietnam, a unit of Philippine-based Universal Robina Corp., has been ordered to pull out batches of its bottled tea drink C2 and Rong Do energy drinks after tests found these products contain higher levels of lead that exceeded permitted limits.

A URC spokesman in Manila told GMA News Online they will release an update on the case on Monday.

In a statement released on May 24, URC said it is "fully aware" of the Vietnamese government's recall order of three batches of products manufactured by its factory in Hanoi, one of four facilities in Vietnam.

The company noted its other products in Vietnam were not affected by the pull out order.

“We are highly supportive of URC Vietnam’s immediate compliance and desire to cooperate with the Vietnam MOH. URC is also fully aligned with the health authorites’ mandate to protect consumer health wherever it operates,” URC said.

“URC is committed to be in full compliance with product safety standards and to manufacture products that are of the highest quality, as they have always been throughout the years," it added.

"We shall be reaching out proactively to our customers and partners to assure them of this fact as well as answer questions they may have regarding the development in Vietnam,” company said.

Tuoi Tre News, a news website in Vietnam, broke the news that authorities have flagged five container vans that contain C2 and Rong Do. 

The news report revealed, the lead content in two batches of C2 produced on April 2, 2016 and January 11, 2016 was 0.085 mg/l and 0.46mg/l, respectively.

Moreover, the lead content in Rong Do produced on February 19, 2016, January 14, 2016, and November 10, 2015 were 0.053 mg/l, 0.21 mg/l, and 0.068 mg/l, respectively.

The lead content in the products were higher than the allowable level of 0.05 mg/l, the report said. — APG, GMA News