Vietnam - Food with toxic chemicals appear in Vietnam

Salted eggs processed by chemicals.

VietNamNet Bridge – Food hygiene and safety has become a big concern of Vietnamese consumers when food containing banned chemicals has been detected recently.

In the latest case, HCM City authorities discovered thousands of salted eggs which were preserved in toxic chemicals. Experts said that chemicals can be easily absorbed through the egg shell.

The eggs were not processed in traditional ways but by chemicals. Using chemicals will help shortened the processing time. The origin of these eggs was also unclear.

Also in HCM City, inspectors of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development detected bean sprouts produced by a Chinese chemical. This substance stimulates the growth of bean sprouts, making them bigger and having fewer roots. However, the toxicity of this chemical is low and it is usually used at low dosage so its harmful impacts on users is also low.

On August 10, Dong Nai authorities inspected a private cattle internal organ processing enterprises in Bien Hoa city and detected that this firm used unidentified chemicals to bleach rotten internal organs of cattle.

Beansprouts

The enterprise owner said after being bleached, rotten internal organs would be sold to restaurants in Dong Nai and some southwestern provinces.

In early March, the local media reported that pig raisers used a chemical to speed up the growth process of pigs and to create lean meat.

The Veterinarian Agency’s inspection revealed that 43 percent of samples collected from pig farms and 26 percent of pork samples from slaughtering houses were positive with this chemical.

Many kinds of Chinese fruits with chemical residues have been detected in Vietnam. Since early July, the Plant Protection Agency has collected 104 fruit and vegetable samples imported from China and other countries for testing. Three Chinese fruit and vegetable sample contained pesticide residue that exceeded Vietnam’s standard. Two Chinese grape samples had difenoconazole residue which was 3-5 over Vietnam’s standard.

China’s Fuji apple used to be favored by Vietnamese customers but they have boycotted this fruit after the media reported that Fuji apples were protected by being wrapped by plastic bags containing pesticide.

Cattle internal organs bleached by chemicals.

In Vietnam, people can easily buy any kind of chemical. As chemicals are cheap and easy to buy, many people abused chemicals in processing food, in order to cut cost and shorten processing time.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 35 percent of cancer cases are related to food and eating style.

The National Tumor Hospital’s statistics show that Vietnam has an additional 150,000 cancer patients annually. Around 50,000 patients catch cancer because of polluted food.

Compiled by Thu Hang

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