Who can give me information about clean food?

Every time I go to the market, I have a headache choosing safe and clean food. If you ask me “why do we have to eat dirty food?”, I think that question is not correct. Because, no one accepts eating dirty food, if they know it is dirty. So, my answer would be “because there is no information”.

In the food "matrix", consumers do not know who to trust (illustrative photo)

When asked “Why do Vietnamese people have to eat dirty food”, Ms. Thuy Anh, Tay Ho district (Hanoi) shared her opinion:

I believe that millions of other housewives are just like me. No one has the courage to eat dirty food, unsafe food if they know exactly that it is dirty.

I find it funny because sometimes I hear the answers of some food experts or government managers advising consumers to become smart consumers. After all, people can be smart when choosing an air conditioner, a television or a refrigerator, but few can be smart when facing the current food "matrix".

Simply because consumers do not have the tools to verify and assess the cleanliness of food. They cannot choose food when there is no information about that food, especially when information about clean food and safe food is chaotic.

My best friend often confided that she was afraid of eating dirty food, so she often ordered it from her hometown in Thanh Hoa. Whatever was not available, she would go to the supermarket to buy. However, she herself did not dare to confirm that the food was clean because there was no way for her to verify or appraise it.

She and her family rely mainly on trust among acquaintances. One day, she called me in displeasure to complain because she had just heard the news about a supermarket importing vegetables and fruits from the market and labeling them as safe to sell at a profit. Since then, her trust in the supermarket's "clean" products has almost been broken. She returned to the habit of going to the market and continued to develop her own ability to perceive and choose clean food.

With more information, consumers can confidently choose food for themselves (illustrative photo)

Back to my story, I never had the concept of clean food or dirty food. Simply because I don’t know how to identify or differentiate it. If possible, I think that before asking for clean food, perhaps the first thing to ask for is safety. Of course, when the market doesn’t have safe food, you will have to eat unsafe food (dirty food).

So, there are two answers to the question “Why do you eat dirty food?”. One is because you don’t have information, all products are equated, counterfeited, causing consumers to be confused and lose confidence. Two is, consumers like to use delicious and cheap products, so of course the level of “cleanliness” will be affected to some extent.

From my personal perspective, no one wants to eat dirty food, it’s just that there is no clean food, safe food to eat or because the price is too “sky high”. Recently, the story of “from kitchen to cemetery” has been talked about more. All levels, sectors, and related units are boiling over the story of how to manage and limit clean food. The issue has been brought up and discussed a lot but there is no solution.

Eating safe food is still the dream of housewives (illustrative photo)

In my opinion, the problem is not that complicated. We also talk a lot about controlling food from the output, so why haven't we done it for a long time? State management agencies can consider increasing the capacity of commune level in managing and supervising the production of safe food.

We can assign an agricultural extension worker or agricultural officer to monitor, supervise, and provide technical support to farmers. If any individual is found to be violating or using excessive amounts of pesticides, we will punish them immediately. In addition, we should also conduct research to develop methods for identifying and appraising food. Only then will food be clean from the beginning, and consumers will feel secure using any food on the market.

According to Thuy Anh/danviet