Consumers have
no idea if what they're putting in their mouths could give them cancer.
Demand for safe food is rising in Vietnam,
and many consumers have become suspicious of goods touted as safe on the local
market. This was the focus of a business–consumer connection forum held by the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on Wednesday.
Vietnam seems to be stuck in a circle of
trust and moral deterioration between consumers and companies at the moment,
and the consequences appear to be a slow erosion in its citizens’ health and a
bleak outlook for Vietnamese food industry.
Experts said that lack of trust in food
processors and sellers, who have far too often been proved reckless in their
pursuit of profits, has left food on the shelves which in turn has made it
difficult for them to remain “straight”.
In recent years, it’s become increasingly
common to hear about cases of unscrupulous food sellers in Vietnam using banned
chemical in meat or excessive concentrations of pesticide in vegetables to
increase or maintain the food’s appeal to consumers.
Cong An Nhan Dan (People's Police) newspaper
said in a report Wednesday that in 2015, the country recorded 171 food
poisoning cases with nearly 5,000 people affected. Each day, people in Hanoi
consume about 1,000 tons of meat, 600 tons of fish and 3,200 tons of
vegetables, but only a handful is clean or has been proven place of origin,
said experts at the forum.
For some, the situation is even grimmer than
it looks. “I don’t believe there are clean vegetables (in the market) anymore,
because Vietnam imports 4,100 types of pesticides and 1,643 different chemical
ingredients, 90 percent of which come from China," the report quoted
Nguyen Lan Dung, chairman of the Vietnam Biotechnology Association, as saying
."It’s impossible to control how our farmers use them,” .
According to the report, in a recent
inspection conducted by the National Institute for Food Control (NIFC), 40/120
vegetable samples were found to have excessive levels of chemical pesticides,
and 455/735 samples of meat products were unsafe for consumption. The unethical
practice of mixing “dirty” food with safe produce to sell at a higher price is
common in the market, even in supermarkets and other places that naturally
enjoy higher consumer confidence.
While these cases are not common, the
government's ineffective response to tighten food safety control has further
eroded consumer trust.
The terrifying fact about these unethical
practices is that the damage caused by unsafe products does not usually come to
light immediately. According to Prof. Hoang Dinh Chau, director of the Hung
Viet Cancer Hospital, each year Vietnam has 150,000 new cancer patients, and
75,000 people die from cancer annually. It is estimated that about 35 percent
get cancer from consuming “dirty” food, topping the 30 percent of lung cancer
patients who contract the disease from smoking.
Chau said chemicals used in livestock feed
and plant protection products such as preservatives and pesticides are the main
causes of cancer and other illnesses in the country.
Remaining
issues that gain attention
With pressure mounting to strengthen food
safety measures, the Vietnamese government has been urged to put food safety
higher on national agenda and to issue policies that are strong enough to
encourage the production and supply of safe food.
Tran Quan, director of a chain of seafood
stores called Soi Bien (Sea Wolf), said that the MARD has yet to issue
standards for organic agricultural products, forcing him and other businesses
to search elsewhere overseas for applicable standards.
Quan also added that overlaps in food safety
management have frustrated many in the industry. “There are inspection teams
from the health and agricultural sectors. Then there are teams from the ward,
district and even inter-agency teams from a municipal level. Why can't these
teams share their test results to save costs and cut the onerous red tape?”
said the director.
Blaming Vietnam’s poor market discipline and
questioning the government's protection of consumers, Chairman of the Hanoi
Supermarkets Association Vu Vinh Phu’s opinion has received from other experts.
“We aren't able to distinguish between an honest business and an unscrupulous
one… And don’t ask the consumers to wise up; the authorities must actively
protect them,” Phu said.
On the other hand, Le Tu, director of Hong
Thanh Viet – a catering business in the southern city of Vung Tau – revealed
that even food safety certificates such as VietGap – the Vietnamese good
agricultural practice standard – have a price tag, adding a challenge that the
government and consumers have to confront .
“Someone even offered to sell me a VietGap
certification,” Tu told Cong An Nhan Dan. "If it's that easy to buy, then
what can the consumers believe in nowadays?”
Vietnam has seen numerous problems related to
food safety in recent years, mostly resulting from imports of food
preservatives from China.
Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Group, which owns
Formosa Plastics, was ordered to pay a $500 million fine for discharging toxic
waste from its steel plant in the central province of Ha Tinh in April, killing
large numbers of fish. The incident could have resulted in a serious health
hazard.
Under new food safety laws revised in July,
the maximum punishment for food poisoning and other violations in Vietnam was
raised from five to 20 years' imprisonment. Fines were also increased tenfold
to VND500 million ($22,425).
No comments:
Post a Comment