Cassava starch and turmeric starch of unknown origin are rampant

(Baonghean.vn) - Currently, the market is flooded with the production and sale of cassava starch and turmeric starch, which do not ensure quality and affect the health of consumers.

Arrowroot powder is a food that helps to cool down and detoxify, and is popular with many people during hot summer days. To meet the needs of families and sell to the market, many households have made arrowroot starch.

Arrowroot powder is sold with simple packaging, no production facility, and no expiration date. Photo: Quang An

Producing tapioca starch requires many stages such as grinding, pressing, filtering, drying, etc. Each stage requires meticulousness to produce a good product. However, due to immediate profits, some production households and business owners easily mix in powders of unknown origin to increase profits without the user knowing.

Ms. Nguyen TH in Hamlet 5, Nam Anh Commune (Nam Dan) said: Our cassava starch products always ensure the production process and do not mix impurities, however, the output of the product mainly depends on acquaintances and mutual trust. Since the advent of social networks, our sales have decreased a lot because we do not know how to market online like others. Not only that, some localities that produce cassava starch have labeled Nam Dan cassava starch on the packaging.

Just searching on the internet, there are hundreds of accounts registered to sell tapioca starch and it is very difficult for people to verify the quality and origin. Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan in Hung Dung ward (Vinh city) said: "I asked an acquaintance to buy 1kg of tapioca starch for me to use, but after a short time, I don't know if it was due to poor preservation or poor product quality, but the tapioca starch turned yellow and moldy."

Not only kudzu but turmeric powder is also very difficult to control the quality because each package of turmeric powder on the market is sold through mutual trust.

Going up National Highway 1A, we found the capital of "turmeric starch" in Quynh Vinh commune, Hoang Mai town. In 2016, the whole commune planted 80 hectares of turmeric. Realizing that this is a crop with high economic efficiency and is favored by the market, in 2017, the commune converted the land area of ​​traditional crops to turmeric, increasing the area by nearly 200 hectares.

Currently, out of 22 hamlets of the commune, 8 hamlets specialize in growing turmeric and producing turmeric starch.

Processing turmeric starch by hand, if not carefully covered, rats and insects will also affect food safety. Photo: Quang An

Although Quynh Vinh is a locality with a large area of ​​turmeric, the production of turmeric starch in Quynh Vinh is still small-scale and fragmented within each household. Product output mainly depends on mutual trust and selling to acquaintances.

Mr. Le Dang Thuy - Vice Chairman of Quynh Vinh Commune People's Committee said: "Turmeric has been grown for many years in the locality. In the past 5 years, people have gradually changed their business direction, not selling fresh turmeric after harvesting but investing in machinery to produce turmeric starch. Currently, 40% of households in the commune grow turmeric to produce starch. Although it is processed using traditional methods, ensuring safety and no impurities, because the trademark has not been registered, production is spontaneous."

Producing turmeric starch without labels. Photo: Quang An

The characteristic of turmeric starch production is that there is a large loss. On average, 1 ton of fresh turmeric can only be refined into about 40 kg of turmeric starch. Therefore, this is a product with a high selling price, averaging from 400,000 VND/kg or more. High profits are the main reason why many people produce turmeric starch indiscriminately, mixing it to increase product volume.

Currently, turmeric starch products are mainly produced by manual methods and packaged carelessly. Therefore, under normal conditions, over time, if not well preserved, turmeric starch can easily become moldy and its quality is not guaranteed.

Mr. Le Xuan Hong in Hamlet 5, Quynh Vinh Commune sighed: Such counterfeit ingredients have affected the interests of our local traditional turmeric powder producers. In 2014, I filed a dossier and registered the trademark of my family's products. This method has been effective when consumers trust and choose the products because they have specific labels.

With the explosion of social networks, low-quality turmeric starch and tapioca starch products are increasingly flooding the market, making it easy to contact and purchase. This is harmful to the health of users and detrimental to the rights of households that produce according to the correct process.

Authorities have also noticed this situation but have not yet stepped in to guide, inspect, or handle it.

Quang An - Phuong Thuy