Horrifying to watch the process of making Vietnamese sausage.

Using cheap ingredients, poor food hygiene and safety standards, along with additives and chemicals of unknown origin, is a situation currently occurring at some sausage and ham production facilities in Quang Trung commune, An Canh district (Hung Yen province), posing a health risk to consumers.

The chunks of meat lay piled on the dirty floor.

Everywhere you look, it's dirty…

Posing as someone ordering pork sausage for a wedding, we visited the private sausage-making facility of Mr. Nguyen Van B's family, which has been producing, wholesaling, and retailing pork sausage for many years in Quang Trung commune, An Canh district (Hung Yen province). After a moment of hesitation and some probing to gauge the intentions of the strangers, Mr. B finally opened up to us due to our earnest attitude.

Beginning with the usual brand promotion chant, the owner of the pork sausage shop enthusiastically introduced his products: "Every family in the village who orders from my shop praises the sausage for its rich flavor, crispy texture, and wonderful aroma. From the time I make it until the wedding is over, the sausage can be kept for an additional two days without any unpleasant smell... If you order over 50kg, I'll only charge for the ingredients, not for the labor..."

Walking around the workshop, the first thing that caught our eye was the piles of purplish-red meat stacked on the dirty white tiled floor, along with frozen pork fat, pre-ground pork sausage, banana leaves used for wrapping sausage, salt, fish sauce, and MSG scattered everywhere, surrounded by flies and mosquitoes that no one bothered to chase away.

Using the excuse of waiting for the cashier to arrive for the transaction and receive the goods, we chose a corner to observe. In the sweltering early summer heat, about 3-4 young men and women in the workshop were sweating profusely as they busily sliced ​​lean and fatty meat, weighed it accurately, and put it into the grinder... which was constantly in operation.

Mr. B was the machine operator, while the others worked without following any production line. Each person handled all the steps themselves, from slicing the meat, measuring the seasonings (fish sauce and salt), wrapping the sausage, shaping the patties, crushing ice, and even shoveling coal into the oven to boil the sausage.

Cheap ingredients, crammed tightly into the refrigerator, are mixed with each batch of pork sausage according to the producer's "secret" proportions.

Seemingly accustomed to customers coming to inquire and place orders, the hired sausage makers continued diligently with their work. They only answered briefly when we asked about ingredients, additives, and how to make sausage, because today they had to deliver nearly 100 kilograms of various types of sausages and ham to four weddings in the village.

At that moment, a young man on a Dream motorbike sped straight to the door, tossed two sacks of pork onto the floor, quickly spread them out, and turned on a fan, directing it straight at the chunks of pork. When questioned about why the pork wasn't washed before being ground, Mr. B chuckled, pointing down at the chunks of meat and explaining in detail: "The first rule for making Vietnamese sausage is not to wash the meat. If it gets wet, the meat will spoil and have to be thrown away because it can't be ground into sausage. Even if the meat is slightly warm, it's difficult to grind, so the meat must be spread out and a fan turned on when it arrives home to prevent it from spoiling."

According to Mr. B's principle as described above, after collecting the meat from the slaughterhouse, the regular suppliers at the market must chop it into small pieces and immediately put it all into a grinder to mix with pork fat and various additives. One batch of sausage from this factory requires 3kg of lean pork, 200g of fat, and additives (fish sauce, MSG, salt, etc.) to produce up to 15kg of sausage. For making meatballs, the amount of fat is slightly higher - 500g of fat, 3kg of meat, always accompanied by pork fat and additives; there is no such thing as lean meat only, the ratio of lean to fat will result in different prices. After grinding, the ingredients are poured into stainless steel trays to proceed with wrapping the sausages and shaping the meatballs.

Observing the banana leaves—the material used to wrap the pork sausage—we couldn't help but be horrified. The torn leaves were still lying on the floor; turning over one pile revealed many leaves covered in dirt, with the carcasses of ants and white cocoons nesting on them, which the workers had simply brushed away with their hands. If they couldn't use their hands, they would drag their bare feet around the house and yard, transferring dirt onto the leaves. Some even quickly used a discarded rag lying on the wet, black, dirty, and foul-smelling floor to wipe it up…

Identifying the "magical" additive that makes pork sausage crispy, delicious, and lasts longer...

After use, knives, cutting boards, and meat grinders are simply placed on racks without being washed… According to T, a young worker who has been at the factory for almost a year: “The knives and grinder are only cleaned occasionally to prevent them from becoming dull, rusty, and breaking down quickly.” The large refrigerator used to store ingredients is no better, dirty from the outside in. Piles of pork, pork skin, soggy fat, and frozen raw sausage, whose freshness and whether moldy or still good are unclear, are crammed tightly inside.

A staff member here revealed: "These are all cheap, leftover scraps that we store away. We add them to the mortar each day, and adding a small amount of additives won't affect the quality of the sausage. We only hope to make a little profit by utilizing them this way. If we used fresh meat and good quality fat, which currently cost 90-100 thousand VND/kg, along with expensive additives, we'd only be serving the public instead of making a profit."

Vietnamese sausage… "soaked" in chemical additives.

At another sausage-making workshop in Quang Trung commune, we encountered a scene similar to that in Mr. B's workshop. Upon inquiry, Mr. Le V. T (a sausage worker) stated: “Additives and chemicals used in making sausage include salt, sugar, MSG, fish sauce, and anti-mold chemicals to make the sausage chewy, crispy, fragrant, and long-lasting. There are also additives to prevent the sausage from swelling during boiling, to give it an attractive pink color, and food coloring… But the indispensable ingredients are fish sauce, MSG, and chemicals to create chewiness, crispness, and longevity.”

The sugar and MSG are unusually small, white, and finely ground.

According to the natural responses of the sausage factory owners, "We used to use borax, but now many customers are ordering without it, so we don't use it anymore and use other chemicals instead. This 'high-quality' type is from Japan and is very expensive, so it's very safe. The sausages come out crispy, delicious, and have a wonderful pork aroma that can't be faulted" (?!).

While the boss was busy delivering goods to another wedding, the young employee leaned close to my ear and whispered: "This type of chemical isn't sold in Hung Yen. The boss has to ask an acquaintance to buy it from Hanoi and send it back by bus. The MSG and several other additives, all with foreign names, are also bought there in large sacks. As for additives and chemicals, either the boss, his wife, or their relatives personally go to pick them up; they never ask employees to do it."

Following his hurried nod, I noticed the "high-quality, expensive" spices placed inside, near one corner of the refrigerator. Both pristine white sacks had no product information whatsoever; the only distinguishing feature was on the outside of the sacks, marked with a few illegible capital letters: SUGAR, MSG. "To prevent workers from making mistakes when picking them out," another worker explained. The health hazard lies in the fact that these products, when touched, are unusually fine, white, and have a stronger flavor than the spices commonly used by consumers. All of this is ground into a fine paste, combined with the secret recipe of the "artisan" making sausage, resulting in hundreds of kilograms of various types of sausage and ham produced daily.

“This type of chemical isn't sold in Hung Yen; the owner has to ask acquaintances to buy it from Hanoi and send it back by bus. MSG and several other additives with foreign names are also bought there in large sacks. As for additives and chemicals, either the owner, his wife, or their relatives personally go to pick them up; they never ask employees to do it.”

According to Labor