Ambiguous fruit syrup "in season"

In the summer, fruit syrups used to make drinks are constantly sought after by shop owners. And from here, syrups that do not ensure food hygiene and safety have the opportunity to creep into everyone's menu.

Buy as much as you want

Although it is still early summer, the demand for fruit syrups has increased significantly. The owner of a grocery store in Dong Xuan market (name withheld) said that since mid-April, the number of customers coming to get syrup has increased significantly compared to the previous month. On average, the owner of this store can sell dozens of liters of syrup per day.

The increased demand has also led to an increase in the business of syrups, pickled fruits, jellies, etc. Many stalls that previously did not sell these items have now imported them for sale. Not only limited to Dong Xuan market, on neighboring streets such as Cao Thang, Nguyen Thien Thuat, Hang Buom, Hang Giay, etc., these items are also sold everywhere. The owner of a shop named “Shop Gia Linh” (Hang Buom street) confirmed: “On this street, every house sells more or less. The thing is, some houses sell them openly, while others keep them inside, and only bring them out when customers need them, mainly for regular customers.”

According to observations, some stores carefully place these syrup bottles on shelves made of iron or wood, but there are also many stores where the syrup bottles are placed right on the tiled floor.

The fruit syrups sold are also very diverse to meet all customers' needs. At a store at 86 Hang Buom Street, there are three different types of fruit syrups for sale. The cheapest type is contained in a 2-liter plastic can, priced at 50,000 VND, the second type is contained in a 600 ml plastic bottle, priced at 55,000 VND, and the third type is contained in a 750 ml ceramic bottle, priced at 150,000 VND. The owner of this stall confidently introduced, "Orange, lemon, mint, apple, grape, strawberry syrups... any color, any smell, we have them all. You can get as much as you want."

Potential risks

Through observation, we noticed that the syrup cans sold at Dong Xuan market and neighboring streets all had full labels. However, when we picked up a can and examined it closely, we saw that there was no information about the production date or expiration date. When we opened a can and smelled it, the smell of the syrup was many times stronger than that of homemade fruit syrups, which only had a mild aroma.

To “test” the taste of the syrups, we went to Nha Xanh market (Dich Vong, Cau Giay) to try the packs of soft drinks sold throughout the market. Each pack of juice costs only 5 thousand VND, but the taste and color are no different from real fruit juice. However, when the sweetness just melted on the tip of the tongue, a bitter taste appeared in the throat, and the more we smacked our lips, the more bitter it became.

Le Thi Xuan (21 years old), a friend of mine who works as a bartender at a milk tea shop on Nguyen Phong Sac street, asserted: “This drink uses “essence” to make it, not fruit juice. Each pack of the drink costs only 5 thousand VND, but using real fruit to squeeze it, where is the profit?” Not only this soft drink, but also the milk teas sold on the street in the market are mixed with cheap syrups. “Each cup of milk tea sold on the street costs only 8 thousand VND, while “genuine” milk tea costs 20 thousand VND, so you know what the quality is like!”, Xuan said.

Currently, fruit syrups with unclear ingredients and quality are still sold openly in many places. In order to avoid inspection by authorities, many stores hide the products inside, and only when regular customers or "savvy" customers want to buy, they will supply them with any quantity.

Because of the unclear origin, quality and lack of inspection, it is very possible that these syrups contain chemical dyes to make the syrup even and durable in color. Synthetic chemical dyes are dyes created by chemical synthesis reactions. For example, Amaranth (red), Brilliant blue (blue), Sunset yellow (orange), Tartazine (lemon yellow)... If these fruit syrups contain dyes that are not on the list allowed for food processing, they will be very harmful to the health of users, causing acute poisoning, long-term accumulation can lead to cancer...

According to reading the newspaper