Ministry of Agriculture discovers nearly 100 chili powder samples containing cancer-causing toxins

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has just announced the results of testing chili powder and dried chili raw materials at production facilities, traditional markets and supermarkets nationwide.

Accordingly, 2 inspection teams conducted 3 inspections with 262 samples of chili powder and dried chili raw materials at production facilities, business households in traditional markets and supermarkets. The results showed that the number of samples exceeding the allowable Aflatoxin residue threshold was 95 samples/262 samples, accounting for 36.25%.

Many chili samples taken from 10 provinces and cities contain aflatoxin residues that cause liver cancer.

Aflatoxin is toxic and possibly carcinogenic. It is a mycotoxin naturally produced by some species of Aspergillus, a type of mold.

The rate of samples exceeding the Aflatoxin residue threshold at production facilities and storage warehouses accounted for 30.7%, at business households in the market accounted for 48.6%, and at supermarkets accounted for 21.62%.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tien, Acting Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, stated that most establishments producing, processing, preserving, and trading dried chili powder are household-scale, and processing and preservation conditions are not guaranteed, leading to the presence of Aflatoxin mycotoxin in chili powder products.

In addition, manufacturers and traders lack understanding of production and preservation processes to avoid creating toxins.

Another reason also pointed out by the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is that many localities have high humidity, a lot of rain, no drying equipment, mainly natural drying, and poor packaging, leading to chili powder often being contaminated with molds Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, which are the main cause of Aflatoxin.

Currently, the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Product Quality Management is coordinating with the Department of Rural and Agricultural Security (A86) to handle establishments that produce, import and trade chili powder in violation.

The inspection team also informed that there were 5 companies importing and trading chili powder with Certificates of product ensuring food safety, but there were many imported shipments during this time without taking samples for quality testing, including the Aflatoxin mycotoxin index.

The inspection team requested that the facilities strictly ensure production and storage conditions according to regulations. In addition, they also inspected and monitored the quality not only of chili powder but also of agricultural products at risk of mold contamination such as peanuts, beans, pepper, cashews, etc.

The delegation has drawn up administrative violation records for 5 production and import establishments with violations and proposed to impose fines of 110 million VND. All violating goods will be confiscated and destroyed.