Vinastas removes information about fish sauce samples contaminated with arsenic

On October 21, the Association for Standards and Consumer Protection removed the article announcing the results of substandard fish sauce samples from its website.

Vinastas removed the article announcing the results of fish sauce samples that did not meet standards.

The article “Nearly 85% of fish sauce samples from 88 businesses do not meet standards” was posted a few days ago on the website of the Vietnam Association for Standards and Consumer Protection (Vinastas).

According to the article, the Association conducted a survey of 150 samples of bottled fish sauce with a total protein content of 10g/liter or more produced by 88 enterprises.

These samples were purchased directly at supermarkets, shopping malls, stores and traditional markets... According to the survey results, up to 125/150 (equivalent to 83.33%) samples did not meet the standards or the level of failure as declared on the label.

Specifically, 76 samples (51%) did not meet the total nitrogen standard; 30 samples (20%) did not meet the amine nitrogen standard; 3 samples (2%) did not meet the ammonia nitrogen standard. "In particular, up to 101 (67.33%) fish sauce samples did not meet the Arsenic standard - an extremely toxic metalloid", the article emphasized.

Information in recent days surrounding the survey results of the Vietnam Consumer Protection Association, which showed that nearly 70% of fish sauce surveyed was contaminated with arsenic, has caused confusion among consumers. Tien Phong reporter had an interview with Dr. Nguyen Huy Quang, Director of the Legal Department (Ministry of Health) about this issue.

Regarding the removal of the article, a Vinastas representative said that because the article was taken from another source on the Association's website, when this source removed the article, the Association's website must also remove it.

Also on the afternoon of October 21, Vinastas posted an article titled “Some information related to the Fish Sauce Survey Program” to clarify information about the survey announced on October 17.

The article states that the results show that nearly 67% of the fish sauce samples surveyed contain total arsenic exceeding the level specified in QCVN 8-2:2011:BYT. The higher the protein content of the fish sauce, the higher the percentage of samples containing total arsenic.

“However, this test result only provides information on the total arsenic content, which includes both organic and inorganic arsenic, in which inorganic arsenic is especially highly toxic and affects the health of consumers. Therefore, Vinastas continued to test the inorganic arsenic content in 20 samples with total arsenic content exceeding the prescribed level. The results showed that all 20 samples did not detect inorganic arsenic with a detection limit of 0.01 mg/L,” the article stated.

Vinastas said this is a consumer survey program so samples can be purchased randomly on the market like normal consumers.

“This survey program is not a scientific research topic, so we do not conduct the procedures required for a scientific research topic as some opinions expressed in newspapers and radio stations,” said an article on the afternoon of October 21 on the Vinastas website.

According to Traffic Newspaper