The Ministry of Interior’s Counter Counterfeit Committee will send a suspect to court on Monday after she allegedly roasted coffee mixed with soybeans and other ingredients, creating a product which could pose a high risk to consumers’ health.
On the afternoon of July 2, the Committee, headed by Kandal Provincial Court deputy prosecutor Ek Sun Reaksmey inspected and closed 33-year-old Thun Nath’s coffee roasting operation in Kraing Mkak commune’s Trapeang Khtoem village in Ang Snuol district.
Committee vice-president Kem Cheat told The Post on Sunday that Nath was not arrested.
“We have not yet arrested her because she didn’t run away and she also has one guarantor. Whenever the police and the court call her, she will make herself available. On Monday we will send the case to the court for judgment and charges against her for what she has done wrong,” Cheat said.
The Committee’s report said police found 60 sacks of soybeans, six sacks of first-grade coffee beans, 10 sacks of second-grade coffee beans, six sacks of roasted coffee beans, a butter mixing machine and a sugar mixing machine.
Also found were 30 packs of coffee, six tanks of butter, 12 tanks of an artificial substance used to give products a coffee scent, three tanks of fish sauce, a barrel of rice wine and 14 packets of instant coffee (natural Khmer coffee).
Cheat said before the inspection, the Committee received reports about the product and started observing the operation. He said roasting coffee mixed with soybeans and other ingredients has a detrimental effect on health. Roasters sometimes add extra ingredients to give the coffee a more pleasant aroma.
The ingredients included soy sauce, butter, caramel syrup, artificial substances, food colouring, sugar, salt, fish sauce, rice wine, MSG, milk and soybeans.
Cheat said: “We are summoning her to court because her product doesn’t have a brand name and it’s not registered. There was no quality inspection certificate and no addresses or instructions on how to use the coffee on the package. The coffee production was without standards.”
The law governing the quality and safety management of products and services prohibit the production and trade of counterfeit food products as they are unhealthy for consumers.
Offenders could face one month to a year in prison and be fined up to 10 million riel.
