Last article: Concerns from additives

(Baonghean) -Nowadays, the excessive use of additives in processed foods is causing great concern among consumers. With the naked eye, it is difficult for consumers to determine which foods are safe and which are not.

>> Article 2: Food of uncertain quality is rampant

During our work to learn about the issue of food additives, we were fortunate to hear information from a roast duck seller at the intersection of Nam Dan Town. It is known that this roast duck shop has appeared for about half a month now. There are quite a lot of buyers, because this roast duck shop is located right at the intersection - a place where many people pass by.

The owner's name is H, from Hai Duong, roast duck is a profession that Mr. H learned all the way to Lang Son. After mastering the profession, Mr. H decided to go to Nghe An to do business. Through research, we learned that the water to brush on the duck during the roasting process is honey mixed with boiling water. The important thing is that to have the characteristic, attractive smell of roast duck, which can be smelled from afar, during the processing, the duck's belly must be marinated with a special powder, priced at 2 million VND/box, produced in China but currently not available in Nghe An market (?). Each box like that can marinate about 200 ducks. Every time this spice runs out, Mr. H has to call a person who specializes in this product to order. We tried every way to ask for the name of that spice but Mr. H refused to reveal it. Every day, Mr. H only sells in the afternoon, on average about 20 ducks, each priced at 120,000 VND.

Roast meat stalls placed on the roadside, can food safety be guaranteed?

Besides vermicelli, cakes, grilled chicken feet, duck, chicken, roast pork, ham is also one of the products with a high percentage of additives. In the role of a beer bar owner, needing to order a large quantity of ham and nem chua, we went to Mrs. Tr - a specialist in producing and selling ham and sausage at Vinh market. When she knew we wanted to order small, cheap ham and nem chua, Mrs. Tr said: We will have any type you want to order, but the cheapest is 40,000 VND/dozen ham and nem. I asked "Is it delicious at that cheap price?". Mrs. Tr said: "The goods are always cheap, delicious, and guaranteed quality. In addition to beef ham, pork ham, nem chua, the family also produces ham and bac nhac ham that beer drinkers really like." Without hesitation, Mrs. Tr cut a piece of ham for us to try, which costs 100,000 VND/tree/1kg. At first glance, it looks quite attractive because the ham has the bright pink color of lean pork, but when you bite into it, it feels hard and lacks the softness of the meat. When we asked, Mrs. Tr explained: "Nowadays, people like to eat hard ham, not soft ham." And Mrs. Tr admitted that the ham must have borax to be crispy and delicious...

Vinh Market - the largest market in the city, currently has dozens of large-scale spice businesses, not to mention small ones. Going to BT store, there are about 50 different types of spices that consumers are dazzled by. Knowing that we wanted to buy borax to make cakes, the store owner immediately gave me a large, white box of powder called PhoPhatemix - a food additive that replaces borax, with the label stating it was made in Thailand. The store owner said: "To make vermicelli, cakes, ham, and sausage, people often buy borax because it is cheaper. This type of additive costs 90,000 VND/box, which is quite expensive, so professionals do not buy it."

According to the data of the Food Safety Department, in the first 6 months of 2012, along with propaganda work in many forms, this agency advised the authorities at all levels to organize 571 interdisciplinary inspection teams, including 1 provincial-level interdisciplinary team and 42 district-level interdisciplinary teams. Through inspections of 12,192 food processing establishments, consumer businesses, and food service establishments, the teams discovered that 20.1% of the establishments did not meet food hygiene and safety standards. Of these, 198 establishments were fined a total of 48.43 million VND; 418 establishments had to destroy 522 products of various types of violations, and 605 establishments were warned. Also in the first 6 months of the year, there were 5 poisoning cases in the province that infected 44 people, including 2 deaths due to eating poisonous wild fruits and vegetables. Notably, there were two cases of food poisoning caused by microorganisms and one case of food poisoning caused by chemicals, which hospitalized nearly 40 people.

Through the discussion, Mr. Dao Trong Dung - Head of the Department of Food Safety and Hygiene (Department of Health), Mr. Duong Trong Hung - Head of the Department of Quality Management of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Products (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) both said that food safety and hygiene is currently a very worrying issue. There are many reasons, but mainly because the sense of responsibility of some manufacturers and businesses is still low. Therefore, the authorities recommend that each citizen must be a "smart consumer". Consumers should first go to reputable stores and stalls to buy goods. Only then can we contribute to minimizing the damage to health and money caused by unsafe food.

If you use food additives in the wrong dosage or type, especially those not allowed to be used in food, it will cause harm to your health:

1.Causes acute poisoning: If overdose is used.

2. Causes chronic poisoning: Even when used in small doses, regularly and continuously, some food additives accumulate in the body, causing long-term damage. When using foods containing borax, 81% of borax will be excreted through urine, 1% through feces, 3% through sweat and 15% will be accumulated in fatty tissues and nerve tissues, gradually affecting the cytoplasm and assimilating amino acids, causing a chronic poisoning syndrome: loss of appetite, weight loss, diarrhea, hair loss, chronic kidney failure, pale skin, epilepsy, and decreased intelligence.

3. Risk of causing tumors, cancer, genetic mutations, and birth defects, especially with synthetic additives.
4. Risk of affecting food quality: destroying nutrients, vitamins...

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