KOTA KINABALU: Consumers here can be assured that no fake Milo products are being sold in the market in Sabah.
Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK) Sabah director, Severinus Tukah, gave the assurance yesterday after a week of inspection and monitoring the market throughout Sabah.
Nonetheless, Severinus urged the people to provide information if they encounter any businessmen who were selling counterfeit Milo products in the State.
KPDNKK seized RM250,000 worth of imitation Milo chocolate drink product in Negeri Sembilan recently. Video on the making of the fake Milo product was also circulated in the social media, depicting workers scooping chocolate powder into imitation Milo packaging and sealing the bags.
Pick N Pay general manager, Doris Chuan, also gave her assurance that no fake Milo products were being sold in Kota Kinabalu and Sabah at this moment.
Chuan said the supermarket management had a meeting with Nestle representatives and agents on Wednesday and they informed her that there were no fake Milo products in the State at this moment.
She said the employees of Harrison’s, Nestle’s agent in Malaysia, also inspected retailers in all the districts in Sabah and found no suspicious Milo products being sold.
Chuan said the supermarket management was also given pictures showing the differences between fake and genuine Milo products.
“They made an effort to explain to us on the issues so that we can explain to our customers.”
According to her, consumers can spot fake Milo products based on the seal of the packaging, aroma, colour and taste.
The seal on genuine Milo products is smooth whereas that on the counterfeit product is very rough with visible stripes as an ordinary sealer is used. In addition, the aroma for fake Milo is stronger than the genuine product once the package is opened.
“If it is genuine Milo from Nestle, the colour will be lighter because the milk and cocoa content are balanced after going through quality control. But for fake Milo, the colour tends to be darker and gives a burnt taste when consumed.
“I think that is because the cocoa was burnt during the roasting process because there was no quality control,” Chuan said.
Pick N Pay sells three kinds of Milo products in its nine branches in Kota Kinabalu.
“We have Milo made in Singapore and registered under Nestle Australia, Milo imported from Australia and Malaysia produced.”
She said the Nestle principal and agent were now working hard to make sure the fake Milo incident would not occur in Kota Kinabalu.
A distributor of Nestle products here, who does not want to be named, also assured that no fake Milo products have been found in Sabah.
“If there are any, our salesmen will inform us immediately,” said a manager of the company.
The distributor supplies Nestle products to retailers, supermarkets and coffee shops here.
He said Milo products have few types of packaging, namely in 250 grams, 400 grams, 1 kilogram, 1.5 kilograms and 2 kilograms. All are sold in soft packs, except for 1.5 kilograms which comes in a tin. He said the video showing the production of the fake Milo is the 1 kilogram pack.
“Our company recommends RM18.73 as the selling price of the 1 kilogram pack, without promotional offer.”
Even with promotions, the 1 kilogram pack is sold at RM16.90, he said, adding that Milo in that weight range sold below the aforementioned price should be an indication of being a counterfeit.