'Mini' mangoes originated in China

Although confirmed by authorities to not be fake mangoes, the small mangoes being sold in markets in Ho Chi Minh City and many places in Hanoi are believed to be imported from China.

In response to the controversial news about the “tiny” mango - a product rumored to be made in China with nylon core, a survey showed that this product is being sold widely on the streets and traditional markets of Ho Chi Minh City.

Ms. Hoa, a vendor at Hoa Binh Market (District 5) said she has been selling this product for two weeks now. All the goods are sourced from Thu Duc wholesale market.

“The first week, I sold a hundred kilograms a day at 35,000 VND per kilogram. But for nearly a week now, because of the rumor that mangoes have nylon cores, sales have dropped by 70%,” said Ms. Hoa, adding that when she first went to get the goods, traders at the wholesale market said that this was a product from Chau Doc (An Giang), so they bought them in large quantities. However, after the rumor, she now only buys about ten kilograms a day and imports other products to sell together to avoid losses.

Mangoes are sold at the market for 35,000 VND per kilogram. Photo: Thi Ha.

Also assured by traders that the products originated from An Giang, Mr. Thanh, a pushcart vendor at Ba Chieu Market (Binh Thanh District), takes 50-70kg every day. “The first week, I sold out every day, sometimes by late afternoon I was out of stock, but for the past week, business has been very slow. Sometimes I had to cut the seeds of many other mango varieties to compare in order to dispel the rumor that the core is made of nylon to make consumers trust, but sales are still slow,” Mr. Thanh said.

Looking sad when selling this product, Ms. Thanh, a trader at Thi Nghe market (Binh Thanh), said that in previous years, she sold Thanh Ca mango (An Giang) which looked exactly like the mango, so when she saw the product at the market, she immediately bought it to sell. "When asked about the origin, the trader said it was from Chau Doc, and trusted me after trying it and found it delicious, so he imported it to sell. Sales were quite good for the first 5 days, but the past 2 days have been sluggish, so I haven't gone to get a new batch yet," Ms. Thanh said.

In Hanoi,This type of mango is also sold in traditional markets such as My Dinh, Dong Xa, Cau Dien and some roads and streets.A vendor on Nguyen Xien Street (Thanh Xuan District) said that the fruit he sells is Vietnamese mango at 40,000 VND per kilogram, and customers can try it before buying. “This mango is only in season in July and August, so if you don’t buy it, you won’t have a chance to enjoy it,” said the vendor, who said he has been selling this product for 2 years now.

While market vendors confirmed that the products originated from Chau Doc, talking withreporterMs. Nguyen Thi My Phung, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of An Giang, said that the "tiny" mango fruit currently sold on the market has the same shape and appearance as the Thanh Ca mango of the province. However, Thanh Ca mango is grown in An Giang in quite modest quantities and has been out of season for more than a month now, so the product sold on the market is definitely not Chau Doc mango.

As a long-time associate of An Giang agricultural products, Mr. Doan Ngoc Pha, former Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of An Giang confirmed that the above mango variety has never been in the Department’s plant variety directory. If it were, it would only be Thanh Ca mango, but this variety is not a flat-seeded product and has fibrous flesh, unlike the mango variety described above.

Sharing about the origin of the "strange" mango variety, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Ha - Deputy Director of Thu Duc Agricultural Wholesale Market also confirmed that Thanh Ca mango (An Giang) has been out of stock for more than a month. The "tiny" mango variety mentioned above is of Chinese origin.The product is transported by a company in the North to the South by container. Every night, this unit transports 40-50 tons to the wholesale market, with a wholesale price of 15,000-20,000 VND per kg (depending on the time).

She also added that to distinguish domestic mangoes from Chinese ones, we can base on the following characteristics: Vietnamese mangoes have thick skin, fibrous flesh, and large seeds. Meanwhile, Chinese mangoes have thin skin, flat seeds, thick flesh, and no fibrous seeds.

Regarding food safety, Ms. Ha said that all imported shipments to the market are sampled by quarantine stations to check for chemicals and pesticide residues, so the quality of the products is still within the allowable limit. If the product is unsafe, it will be confiscated by the management agency. The information that mangoes have nylon cores is fabricated, because each mango seed has a protective membrane layer inside.

According to VNE