Concern about formalin-marinated anchovies

To preserve anchovies, many traders have marinated the fish with banned substances. Consumers are concerned that if they consume this type of fish, it will affect their health.

This is a type of fish that is selling well and its price increases when the sun is up. However, the soft-bodied fish is very susceptible to spoilage, so many retailers have imported large quantities and preserved it with banned substances to sell for profit.

Delicious but difficult to preserve

When the sun comes out, anchovies cooked in tomato and dill soup or vinegar are easy to eat and a favorite of many people. They sell well, so the price of this fish has also been pushed up from 100,000 VND/kg to 130,000 - 150,000 VND/kg. This is also a fish dish that is especially loved by drinkers because word of mouth says that this fish soup can also help sober them up, so drinking with this type of fish does not cause drunkenness. Through research, anchovies have recently become a specialty, and their prices have increased significantly compared to other foods. However, anchovies are soft and flabby, and are caught far offshore, so they are very difficult to preserve. Therefore, most traders, after purchasing anchovies, use chemicals to preserve them.

To preserve fresh anchovies for a long time, traders soak the anchovies in water containing banned substances.

According to information from the Quang Ninh Provincial Police, at the end of December 2013, in Ha Long City, Market Management Team No. 5 (Quang Ninh Market Management Department) coordinated with the Environmental Crime Prevention Police Department (Quang Ninh Provincial Police) to seize 444kg of frozen anchovy fish. After sending the seized anchovy fish to the Provincial Preventive Medicine Center for inspection, it was discovered that it contained formaldehyde, which is banned from use in food. This information made other diners who are "addicted" to anchovy fish afraid because of the long time of being addicted to this "specialty".

Pretending to be customers, we went to the fish stall of Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha, who sells anchovies on K1 Street, Cau Dien Town, and said that we wanted to buy 3kg of fish because we had guests. Ms. Ha said warmly: “The anchovies were sent up by my family in Nghe An to sell, they are very delicious, please buy them to support me. Today, they sent 5 boxes but I am the only one selling, so there is still a big box left. Buy it from me for a cheap price, this morning I sold it for 150,000 VND/kg, now if you buy it, I will only take 130,000 VND”. Seeing me hesitate and not yet decided, Ms. Ha offered again: “120,000, take it for me, the price is very reasonable”. “You are being reasonable with me but I still think it is expensive”, I pretended to bargain. “100,000 VND, sell and give away, eat and remember my shop next time you come back to buy.” Seeing Ms. Ha continuously lowering the price to sell to me, a fish seller next to her interrupted: “That price is already very cheap, if customers are not interested in buying, then why do you keep lowering it, if you don’t sell today, then sell tomorrow?”. “That would be great, how can you keep the fish overnight, the refrigerator is small, how can you put it all in there?”, Ms. Ha explained.

The fish seller leaned close to her ear to give her advice. Ms. Ha's eyes lit up, then she turned to me and said in a tone of dismissing customers: "The price is at rock bottom. If you can't buy it, then leave so I can sell it to someone else."

Consumers should be cautious with unusually fresh baby anchovies.

Beware of unusually fresh and delicious fish

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh, former staff of the Institute of Biotechnology and Food, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, formaldehyde is a banned substance used in food preservation. However, for profit reasons, some retailers have secretly used it to preserve food to prevent spoilage. Formaldehyde is a very toxic substance, dangerous to humans, high concentrations can cause death, but if ingested in low concentrations, this substance accumulates in the body and can cause cancer, skin irritation, respiratory and digestive diseases, etc.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh, it is very difficult to identify this substance because it is odorless and tasteless, so consumers must be wary of foods of unknown origin. For example, if you see that the fish is unusually fresh and bright, you should not choose it because this is a soft-bodied fish that decomposes easily. Unusually fresh is a sign of abnormality in preservation.

It is worth mentioning that many people still choose to cook fish soup when the weather is hot because it is easy to eat and cool. Not many people doubt its unusual freshness and deliciousness while this type of fish is caught in the sea and it takes at least 4-5 days for it to reach a market as far away as Hanoi. Therefore, to ensure safety, consumers should be cautious when buying fish with unusually fresh and delicious colors.

According to Vietnam.net