Hanoi company injects chemicals into buffalo meat to sell as Wagyu beef

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of Hida Food JSC, Nguyen Thi Thuy Hoa, its chief accountant, Nguyen Thi Dung, its production director, and Tran Hoang Phuoc, director of SK FOODS are being held for producing and distributing counterfeit food products, the police said Tuesday.

The fake Wagyu beef produced by Hida Food JSC sold in Hanoi. Photo by police

Phuoc noticed growing consumer demand for Wagyu beef, known for its distinctive marbling, and got Hida Food JSC to produce the fake.

Thao then bought cheap buffalo meat from India at VND120,000 (US$4.70) per kilogram, and injected a chemical to create fat-like marbling.

The two companies then packaged and labeled the products as beef and Hida Food sold it in the market for VND400,000–600,000 per kilogram.

Preliminary investigation showed that between May 2024 and their arrest this week, they produced 14 tons of the fake beef and sold it in Hanoi, Da Nang, Nha Trang, and HCMC.

On Sept. 19 the Hanoi police and market surveillance officials raided Hida's facility in Hoai Duc Commune, and caught its employees red-handed injecting buffalo meat with the fat essence and labeling it as Hidasan brand Wagyu beef.

Police inspect a facility in Hanoi where fake Wagyu beef is produced in September 2025. Photo by police

They seized 65 tonnes of buffalo meat and fake beef, the machinery used to make the fake products and 17 tonnes of chemicals, believed to be fat essence.

Tests by the National Institute for Food Control found that 24 out of 29 beef samples seized contained buffalo DNA, and the other five were actually beef.

The police are awaiting a toxicology report on the seized chemical to determine if it is harmful to humans.