Hanoi market management takes action against dirty meat case
The Hanoi Market Management Department has stepped in to clarify the act of passing off spoiled meat as fresh meat, which outraged public opinion last week.
On the afternoon of April 4, Mr. Nguyen Dac Loc - Deputy Head of the Hanoi Market Management Department affirmed: "We have received information from Phunutoday newspaper as well as other newspapers about the issue of some traders using bleach to clean spoiled meat.
In the recent meeting, we reported this issue to the Health Department to coordinate and thoroughly review this case...".
A piece of rotten meat before and after using sugar remover
However, Mr. Loc also expressed his difficulty in how to do it thoroughly.
“To be precise, this issue is most closely related to the health sector. We ourselves really want to do it thoroughly, but we will have to take samples for testing, appraisal, and wait for the results to see which substances are on the banned list and which are not?
In a quick exchange with Phunutoday reporters, a representative of the Department of Food Safety and Hygiene said that they had received the above information and were conducting an inspection and developing a specific plan to coordinate with relevant departments to handle this incident.
As previously reported by Phunutoday, recently markets in Hanoi have been spreading the word about using a substance called sugar bleach to clean spoiled meat to make it look fresh and sell it to consumers.
Sugar bleach is a food additive that is allowed to be used in the food industry, but is mainly used in sugar factories. If sugar bleach is used to remove food coloring, it must be used in the correct dosage and must be washed thoroughly with clean water after use.
“In the case of using this substance to remove spoiled meat and odors, it is quite effective, because sugar bleach can remove very strongly, eliminating the foul smell of spoiled meat. But the problem lies in the fraud.
Because the meat has spoiled and smells, the toxic bacteria have penetrated deep inside. So even if sugar bleach is used to clean the outside and deceive consumers, there are still many toxins inside the meat.
In fact, the toxins inside spoiled meat are extremely toxic and can affect human life," said Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh, Institute of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology.
According to Phunutoday
