The minister of industry and trade has ordered the Vietnam Competition Authority to set up an interdisciplinary team to check whether the Vietnam Standards and Consumers Association (Vinastas) has complied with law after its release of misleading information about fish sauce.

According to the official website of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the team includes representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Public Security and the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations.

The team is responsible for clarifying the nature and legal basis of a recent fish sauce quality survey conducted by Vinastas so as to determine whether Vinastas violated regulations while surveying and releasing results. In addition, the team will explore how Vinastas received financial sponsorship from domestic firms, as well as support from technical and scientific organizations to carry out the survey.

Vinastas is required to prepare documents related to this survey’s procedures, findings, and related contents to work with the inspection team.

The Prime Minister earlier assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to cooperate with relevant agencies to look into the case and report to the Government before November 11.

Vinastas last week announced that 101 of the 150 fish sauce samples collected on the market have arsenic contents exceeding the safe level of one milligram per liter, with some samples containing five times higher than allowed.

Vinastas has quickly caused public concern and injury for many fish sauce producers in the country since the release of its survey results.

Arsenic is highly toxic in its inorganic form but in its organic form, it is safe. And organic arsenic is widely found in seafood.

Vinastas is believed to have provided misleading information by using the term “arsenic” without clarifying the type of arsenic, resulting in unjustified panic among consumers.

However, the Ministry of Health last Saturday issued an official statement asserting that all of the fish sauce samples which it tested were safe for consumption.

In particular, Nguyen Thanh Phong, head of the Ministry of Health’s Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, said 247 samples of fish sauce from five cities and provinces, namely Hanoi, HCMC, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Khanh Hoa, are safe.

Set of criteria suggested for fish sauce production

In order to protect the purity of fish sauce, Vietnam should develop a set of criteria for the fish sauce production sector, said an expert in the field at a conference held in HCMC on October 24.

Pham Ngoc Dung, former vice chairman of the HCMC Sauce Club, said the current regulations only define fish sauce as a sauce made from fish and salt.

However, fish sauce has come in two categories of traditionally made fish sauce and industrially processed fish sauce in local media these days, he told the conference on fish sauce organized by the Food and Foodstuff Association of HCMC and the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Traditional fish sauce is understood as fish sauce created genuinely from fish and salt while industrially produced fish sauce is added with food additives to enhance its taste, Dung said.

He suggested authorities should not categorize fish sauce products but regulate the contents of protein and other substances in the product, and then put the regulation into a set of criteria to apply to all types of fish sauce on the market.

The Ministry of Health should be assigned to draft those criteria which should be rational, detailed and reasonable to protect pure fish sauce.

“If necessary, the ministry should label fish sauce products as “pure” or “blended” to make it easier for customers to make their choices,” he said.

In addition, he proposed authorities require production facilities to provide details about ingredients on the labels of their products given a big number of fish sauce brands on the market.

Nguyen Thi Hong Minh, chairwoman of Traceability Solutions and Services Joint Stock Company, stressed that pure fish sauce is made only from fish and salt without containing any chemicals.

The health ministry should set out specific standards for distinguishing pure and blended fish sauce to prevent fraud on the market and allow consumers to choose the right product, she suggested.

Besides, traditional fish sauce facilities should standardize their production process, improve product quality, and provide transparent information about the origins of their products, as well as connect with each other to strengthen the traditional fish sauce sector.

SGT