There is no standard for arsenic in fish sauce.

“In our country, fish sauce products from many production facilities are exported to the European, American, and Japanese markets. These are markets with the highest food safety standards in the world. When imported to these countries, it proves that our fish sauce is very safe.”

That is the sharing of Mr. Nguyen Tu Cuong - Member of the Standing Committee, Head of the Sustainable Fisheries Development Department of the Vietnam Fisheries Association, former Director of the Department of Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Product Quality Management (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), a leading expert on food safety in seafood when answering an interview with Dan Viet about the current controversy over the story of arsenic-contaminated fish sauce.

Mr. Nguyen Tu Cuong - Member of the Standing Committee, Head of the Sustainable Fisheries Development Department of the Vietnam Fisheries Association

In recent days, public opinion has been much concerned about the announcement of the Vietnam Standards and Consumers Association (VINASTAS), which mentioned the arsenic index in fish sauce, causing public confusion. How do you personally view this issue?

- In fish and seafood in general, arsenic exists in both inorganic and organic forms. Organic arsenic is a component that makes up the body of aquatic products, this component is completely non-toxic, if it were toxic, we would have died long ago because Vietnamese people have used fish sauce for many generations. Inorganic arsenic comes from the environment, if it is the marine environment, then it is inorganic arsenic that has contaminated the fish. Total arsenic testing includes organic and inorganic arsenic, the total arsenic index does not say anything because it includes a toxic component and a non-toxic component. However, VINASTAS said in the published report that no inorganic arsenic was found, so our fish sauce is completely non-toxic.

Sir, is there a standard for arsenic in fish sauce?

- Currently, there is no standard for arsenic in fish sauce. Before 2013, the European Union, the United States, and Japan required Vietnam to test for inorganic arsenic in seafood products including fish sauce. However, since 2013, the European Union, the United States, and Japan have removed the inorganic arsenic standard, so we have also removed the inorganic arsenic standard for seafood products including fish sauce.

I would also like to add that inorganic arsenic in fish and seafood is very low, so low that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has set the amount of inorganic arsenic naturally present in marine fish at 0.03 mg/kg and 0.1 mg/kg in other seafood when calculating the level of arsenic consumption in human foods. There are no regulations for arsenic in fish sauce, the world and the Codex Standards (of WHO and FAO) do not regulate either. This is reasonable, because people can eat 200 - 300 grams of fish a day but use very little fish sauce.

In our country, fish sauce products from many production facilities are exported to European, American, and Japanese markets, which are markets with the highest food safety standards in the world. When imported to these countries, it proves that our fish sauce is very safe.

Does that mean the very high organic arsenic content in fish sauce samples as announced by VINASTAS does not affect consumers' health?

- As I said above, organic arsenic is a structural component of the fish body and is completely non-toxic.

Regarding the incident that has been happening in the past few days regarding fish sauce products, do you have any recommendations for the authorities regarding fish sauce standards?

- For fish sauce standards, we recommend that regulations on inorganic arsenic and histamine need to have clear and specific indicators. Second, redefine fish sauce. According to the definition of the seafood industry, fish sauce is made from naturally fermented salted fish. So if we use this definition, anything that does not conform to the definition means it cannot be called fish sauce.

Thank you!

According to Dan Viet