Post-Covid health care, nutritional products are in high demand

In March, the entire family of Mr. Thai Dung (Hung Loc, Vinh City) consisting of 6 members were infected with Covid-19. 10 days later, all members tested negative but had poor appetite, difficulty sleeping and fatigue. Listening to the advice of colleagues who had previously contracted Covid-19, he decided to buy bird's nest,Cordyceps, lotus seeds to steam for the whole family to nourish and restore health.

Mr. Thai Dung said: “The 300gr of bird’s nest I ordered from a reputable place cost 15 million VND, 300gr of fresh cordyceps cost 2 million VND, wolfberry, red apple, lotus seed, chia seed came with 500 thousand VND. Nearly 20 million VND for the whole family to recover from Covid. According to the advice, eating 3 times a week, continuously for several months is effective, so if it is enough for a course of treatment for 6 members, it will cost 60-70 million VND, a huge amount of money, but to recover health, we have to “bite the bullet”.

Bird's nest shops said that the consumption of this product has increased by one and a half times, even double compared to before Tet. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Normally, bird's nest is considered a luxury food because the price is quite expensive, so it is difficult to find customers. However, in the past few months, the number of F0 cases has increased, so this item is very popular. Ms. Tran Nguyet, an online bird's nest seller, said: "Recently, the amount of bird's nest I sold has increased by 50% compared to before. There were times when the "stock was out" when there were many buyers but the goods could not arrive in time. Especially, like cordyceps, sometimes customers' orders were missed for a whole month because of the scarce supply. Prices of various typesnutritious foodThis also increased by 20-30% compared to before".

Not only raw bird's nest, bird's nest but also pre-cooked bird's nest is very popular. On average, Ms. Ho Le, a pre-cooked bird's nest seller in Le Loi ward (Vinh city) receives orders of 100-150 jars of pre-cooked bird's nest per day, mainly from acquaintances. Ms. Le said: "Before, I only cooked sweet soup to sell. Since the pandemic last year, I have added pre-cooked bird's nest. Now it is the beginning of summer but I only focus on pre-cooked bird's nest due to high customer demand, while cooking bird's nest is quite laborious and each person has their own requirements for different flavors. There are days when the orders are overloaded, we have to mobilize more workers to process bird's nest, package and deliver to customers."

Many bird's nest preparation facilities have to mobilize more workers to meet customer orders. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The increased demand has led to a shortage of bird's nests and high prices. According to business owners, bird's nest prices have increased by 20-30% compared to the same period last year..In the current market, raw bird's nests without feathers are priced from 2.5 to 3 million VND/tael; refined bird's nests are priced from 4 to 5 million VND/tael; raw bird's nest feet are priced from 2.2 to 2.7 million VND/tael; blood bird's nests are priced from 7 to 10 million VND/tael; white bird's nests are priced from 5 to 7 million VND/tael; broken bird's nests are priced from 500,000 to 1 million VND/tael. Pre-processed bird's nest sets (including wolfberry, red apple, lotus seed, chia seed) are priced from 450,000 to 500,000 VND/set; ready-to-cook bird's nests are priced from 80,000 to 180,000 VND/jar (depending on the volume and accompanying medicinal herbs). Tools such as bird's nest stewing jars, double boiler bird's nest stewing pots... are also very "in demand".

Along with bird's nest, cordyceps, ginseng, saffron, etc., many consumers have also chosen to nourish their families during the epidemic season. In addition, pharmacies have simultaneously launched functional foods advertised as "post-Covid-19 nutritional supplements" with all kinds of cereals, vitamins, etc. priced from a few hundred thousand VND/box to tens of millions of VND.

Cordyceps is a rare commodity and its price is increasing at the present time. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Mr. Nguyen Huu Hoan, owner of a pharmacy in Do Luong town, said: “During this time, the number of people buying Covid-19 treatment drugs and test kits has decreased, while the number of people buying functional foods and vitamins has increased, about a few dozen customers per day. In particular, focusing on products containing ingredients of high-class medicinal herbs such as lingzhi mushrooms, cordyceps, ginseng, etc.

On social networking sites, functional foods advertised as having the effect of nourishing the body and being good for the lungs are also widely sold with all kinds from domestically produced to imported from England, Australia, Japan, Korea... and the number of people ordering is quite large.

Functional foods and vitamins are also chosen by people to supplement nutrients after being infected with Covid-19. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Health care after illness is necessary. In addition to supplementing with foods in daily meals, you can also supplement with functional foods. However,consumerBe extremely careful when choosing nutritional products suitable for each subject, because the use of functional foods is like a "double-edged sword", if supplemented incorrectly, it will cause many consequences for health. Along with that, the situation of poor quality nutritional products also appears quite a lot and is difficult to control./.