VietNamNet Bridge - Kim Bien Market in District 5, HCM City is called the “market of death” because it sells all kinds of toxic chemicals.


{keywords}

Some stalls at Kim Bien chemical market, HCM City.

Visiting Kim Bien Market, one will immediately smell the odor of chemicals from stalls selling all kinds of substances.

At this market, customers can easily buy chemicals and substances without labels of origin that are used to create artificial flavors for food, such as the flavor of beef, pork and chicken.

Chemical sellers at the market advertise a kind of white powder, priced VND80,000 ($4)/gr, saying that only one spoon of this powder is enough to make a pot of 100l of water to have the flavor of beef. Using this unknown substance, restaurants don’t have to simmer cow bones to have sweet beef broth.

Chemical sellers also said that this substance can be used to mix with meat to keep the meat fresh for a long time, with delicious flavor.

An expert said that the chemical sold at the Kim Bien Market may be Sodium Metalbisulfite, a chemical used in food preservation, but it will be toxic for humans if it is used in large doses. When the substance is used with different doses, in different soaking time, it can turn pork into beef, porcupine, or ostrich meat.

Some traders at Kim Bien Market also advertised the substance that can turn dead chickens into fresh chicken. "Just five minutes after being soaked into the solution, the skin of dead chickens will turn yellow like fresh chicken. Many people come here to buy this chemical for only VND250,000/l,” a trader said.

For tainted pork, chemical traders at the market recommended a kind of white powder. They said a short time after pouring a little of this powder on tainted pork, the pork will look fresh.

"Also with this powder, you can turn pork into different kind of meat depending on the volume of chemical in use and the time of embalmment," a trader said.

A trader recommended a kind of chemical to turn tainted pork into fresh beef.

They also introduced buyers to chemicals to process different kinds of food, to make fresh food from poor quality materials.

 

Unsafe food is the top cause of cancer in Vietnam

Every year Vietnam has about 200,000 new cases of cancer, with 75,000 deaths, making Vietnam one of the countries with the alarming rate of cancer, according to a seminar held in HCM City by the Association for Standardization and Customer Protection of Vietnam last week.

Unsafe food is the top cause of cancer in Vietnam, cancer, unsafe food, sabutamol, lean pork, social news, vietnamnet bridge, english news, Vietnam news, news Vietnam, vietnamnet news, Vietnam net news, Vietnam latest news, vn news, Vietnam breaking news

Data from agencies in 2014 and 2015 showed that 9,140 kg Salbutamol were imported to produce medicines but up to 6,268 kg of this substance were used in pig farming to produce lean pork.

According to the Ministry of Health’s evaluation, cancer is badly affecting the country’s society and economy  with more cases of cancer infections meanwhile it costs a big sum to treat the disease.

According to the World Health Organization’s figure, there were 14.1 million fresh cancer cases and 8.2 million people succumbed to the disease in 2012. At the meantime, Vietnam had 68,810 new cancer infections in 2000, the figure increased to 126,307 cases in 2010 and an estimated cases of 190,000 will be in 2020.

Dr. Nguyen Ba Duc, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Cancer Association, there are three factors that affect cancer, including genetics, polluted environment and diet.

In particular, agents from unsafe food take the lead among the carcinogenic factors - accounting for about 35% of cases, while genetic factors account for only 5-10%.

Mr. Do Ngoc Chinh, head of the southern office of the Association for Standardization and Consumer Protection of Vietnam, said an alarming problem was the use of antibiotics and lean creating substances in livestock and farming to increase productivity.

Data from agencies in 2014 and 2015 showed that 9,140 kg Salbutamol were imported to produce medicines but up to 6,268 kg of this substance were used in pig farming to produce lean pork.

Linh Nhat