The Ministry of Health on January 7 slammed a misleading report that a Styrofoam sheet's dissolution by a fish oil product would prove the supplements' low quality.

The omega-3 fish oil taken from two jars supposedly imported from China gradually made a hole through a Styrofoam sheet. 

The rumour had gone viral on the social media since yesterday when a clip on the biggest national broadcaster VTV showed how the omega-3 fish oil taken from two jars supposedly imported from China gradually made a hole through a Styrofoam sheet.

VTV used the corrosion as a clue to prove the alleged dangers of low quality fish oil products.

In a press meeting this evening, the Ministry's National Institute for Food Control denied such evidence by directly conducting an experience on the fish oil of three different origins, from the US, China and Viet Nam.

All the fish oils created a hole on a five-centimetre thick Styrofoam sheet within five minutes.

Food Administration Head Nguyen Thanh Phong said that fish oil products were all in the form of ethyl ester which would chemically be able to dissolve Styrofoam, or the polystyrene. The dissolving time-frame, however, would vary depending on the different types of the oil.

"There is no polystyrene inside the human body, so a similar reaction will never take place and cause health problems to anyone who consumes it," he said.

Regarding the two fish oil supplement jars used in the clip, which was said to be filmed in Quang Ngai Province, the provincial Food Hygiene and Safety Department clarified that the products were illegally imported into Viet Nam with unidentified origins.

VNS