'Organic arsenic in fish sauce is almost harmless'

On October 17, the Vietnam Standards and Consumers Association (Vinastas) announced the results of a survey on fish sauce, conducted on 150 bottled samples of 88 brands purchased directly at supermarkets, agents, markets, shopping malls, and specialty stores in 19 provinces and cities across the country.

According to statistics, each year Vietnam consumes more than 200 million fish sauces, the market size in 2015 reached about 11,300 billion VND. Illustrative photo

Accordingly, 67% of the fish sauces surveyed - corresponding to 101 fish sauce brands - had arsenic content above 1.0 mg and even 5 mg/l, while according to regulations, the maximum allowable arsenic content in fish sauce products is 1.0 mg/l. The survey results were published, causing confusion among many consumers.

“Still safe”

On the evening of October 18, Vinastas Deputy General Secretary Vuong Ngoc Tuan continued to have an interview with the press to clarify the issue of a series of fish sauces containing arsenic exceeding the threshold.

Mr. Tuan affirmed that the survey process was carried out objectively. Vinastas took 150 fish sauce samples from supermarkets, distributors, distribution agents of the enterprise, and even bought directly from the enterprise. Then, the codes were sent to two testing rooms.

“The two testing labs are the Quality Standards Center 3, which has accredited testing labs, and the Ho Chi Minh City Public Health Institute, which has been designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Health to test the quality of fish sauce. We tested at the same time and gave the results. The survey and testing process lasted from August until now, more than a month and a half,” said Mr. Tuan.

Vinastas Deputy Secretary General also said that this survey has a sponsor, but could not disclose details.

Mr. Tuan also emphasized that the results of 101/150 samples with total arsenic threshold - including organic arsenic and inorganic arsenic - did not meet the regulations. However, the nature of organic arsenic is almost non-toxic, while inorganic arsenic is. After that, Vinastas continued to take 20 samples of the 101 samples with arsenic content exceeding the threshold for testing, the results did not detect inorganic arsenic, proving that there was only organic arsenic in the fish sauce. Thus, the fish sauce is still safe.

In particular, Vinastas' survey emphasized that the higher the protein content of fish sauce samples, the higher the arsenic content. Specifically, 95.65% of the surveyed samples with protein content of 40 degrees or higher were assessed to have arsenic content exceeding the prescribed threshold.

To date, Vinastas has not yet published the list of fish sauce brands surveyed. However, this list is said to have been leaked on several forums and social networks on the Internet, with many types of “traditional fish sauce” often advertised as having high protein content being in the group containing arsenic exceeding the prescribed threshold. Conversely, some brands considered “industrial fish sauce” are in the safe group.

"Inorganic is toxic"

Speaking with VnEconomy, Dr. Tran Dang, former Director of the Department of Food Safety and Hygiene (Ministry of Health) affirmed that the Ministry of Health's standards related to arsenic are "implicitly understood" to mean inorganic arsenic.

“People working in food safety, when talking about arsenic poisoning, assume it is inorganic. That is the implicit understanding in the profession,” Mr. Dang said.

According to the standards issued by the Ministry of Health in 2011 on the limits of heavy metal contamination in food, the arsenic content is also clearly noted as only inorganic, and the temporarily acceptable weekly intake is 0.015 mg/kg. For fish sauce, the Ministry of Health has a general limit of 1.0 mg/l.

Therefore, Mr. Dang believes that Vinastas' survey conclusion is "confused", in the name of protecting consumers, but actually makes consumers confused.

Ms. Tran Thuy Dung, an expert with many years of research on fish sauce, from the Institute of Economics and Fisheries Planning, also questioned Vinastas why it used organic arsenic - a nearly harmless substance in fish sauce - for evaluation.

According to Ms. Dung, arsenic exists in many forms, only inorganic arsenic can cause poisoning, while organic arsenic often exists in aquatic products and is almost harmless.

“Report to the Prime Minister”

Speaking to the press, Director of the Food Safety Department Nguyen Thanh Phong said that since October 12, the interdisciplinary inspection team including the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade has been inspecting the fish sauce market in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and will then expand to other localities with a tradition of fish sauce production such as Phu Quoc (Kien Giang)...

The purpose of this inspection is to review the declaration documents for fish sauce products, production processes, circulation licenses, and take samples for testing of fish sauce products on the market.

Mr. Phong affirmed that in Vietnam there is no concept of industrial or handmade fish sauce. However, fish sauce must ensure the requirements of protein and amino acid content, in accordance with the declaration documents.

"Our view is that protecting consumers' health must be the top priority, however, inspections also need to ensure the production and business activities of enterprises. Therefore, the inspection results will be reported to the Prime Minister before October 22," said Mr. Phong.

According to statistics, Vietnam consumes more than 200 million fish sauces each year, the market size in 2015 reached about 11,300 billion VND. The enterprise that accounts for more than 70% of the current Vietnamese fish sauce market share is Masan Group.

According to VnEconomy