Officials from Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives have launched an investigation into the appearance of school milk from Thailand being sold in Siem Reap.

An official from the ministry confirmed the investigation was underway yesterday, but declined to comment as he said he wasn’t authorised to.

The investigation comes after reports that the free Thai school milk was being sold at Siem Reap’s Asia supermarket.

The product is banned for sale domestically or outside the country, and producers found to have exported it to Cambodia will face a penalty, the Bangkok Post reported. At least one cooperative admitted to selling the product to Cambodia, but said they didn’t think they had broken a law as it was surplus.

Ry Sovann, general manager at Asia supermarket, said he didn’t know the milk was a government product from Thailand. He said a Thai customer noticed the milk, which indicates in Thai language that it cannot be sold.

“I will not be selling it anymore,” he said. “I don’t want to make any trouble.”

Sovann said he bought a few packages of the milk from ABC Company in Phnom Penh, and has since removed it all from his shelves. He said he bought it for 30 cents a carton and was selling them for 50 cents. “I don’t like somebody making money off the students,” he said.

A product salesman at ABC, who declined to be named, said the student milk was imported from Thailand.

Additional reporting by Bun Sengkong