Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Van Tien said that at the time of the inspection, Lien Thanh Company’s factory area was located next to the sewer, flooded and unprotected.
The news of the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development discovering four units involved in producing, trading, and processing fish sauce that does not comply with regulations has garnered public attention. The units were found to be using industrial soda, which is a banned substance.
In particular, this case is related to violations of Seafood Processing Joint Stock Company. Lien Thanh (Hamlet 4, Tan Kien, Binh Chanh, Ho Chi Minh City), there is information that, although there was no violation in the use of industrial soda, the error was collected with 3 other units, causing confusion and serious impact.
Talking to reporters on the morning of January 14, Mr. Nguyen Van Tien, Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that he had grasped the issue related to inaccurate information about the case of Lien Thanh Company.
Mr. Tien said that Lien Thanh Company’s violations in fish sauce production were clearly stated by the unit in the decision to sanction administrative violations dated August 8, 2019.
Specifically, according to Mr. Tien, at the time of inspection at Lien Thanh Company, it was determined that the factory area of this unit was flooded by high tide.
“When we inspected the Company’s production area, we found that it was located next to a sewer, which got flooded during high tide and was unprotected. After making a record of the safety violations and the food hygiene issues in processing, we imposed fines,” informed Mr. Tien.
Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed that Lien Thanh Company does not use industrial soda in fish sauce processing.
“Lien Thanh Company was only fined for one administrative violation above at 6 million VND and this unit did not use industrial Soha in processing.
All related contents such as violations and penalties have been clearly stated in the penalty decision,” Mr. Tien emphasized.
Regarding some information about industrial soda (chemical name Na2CO3) that 3 units were discovered to use in fish sauce production, Mr. Tien said: “According to current regulations, industrial soda is prohibited for use in food processing”.
Previously, the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that it had imposed administrative fines on 3 businesses including Hoa Hiep Food Processing Company Limited, Tan Phat Food Company Limited (Vinh Long province), Dieu Huong Company Limited (An Giang province) due to the act of using industrial chemical raw materials (soda Na2CO3) to produce fish sauce.
Inspector of the Ministry of Information, the above businesses used the input materials “lilac water” and MSG water to run through the fish carcass system, in which “lilac water” (also known as dipping sauce) or semi-finished fish sauce) is made by using industrial soda to neutralize the acid in MSG and adding shrimp head distillate to increase protein.
The type of soda used is Ash Light soda – Na2CO3, a chemical used in the industry of manufacturing detergents (such as soap), textile dyeing, and is not included in the list of food additives.
During the inspection, it was discovered that certain companies had bought a significant amount of soda with the intention of using it to make fish sauce. Their fish sauce formula involved boiling a mixture of 95% sour MSG, 5% shrimp juice, and 120kg of soda for 40 to 50 hours to produce 800 liters of fish sauce containing 25-35% protein. As a result, in addition to 800 liters of fish sauce, 700 liters of precipitated salt were also obtained.
During the inspection, the inspection team requested all three companies mentioned above to temporarily stop production, return all imported soda and impose administrative fines on these companies. Semi-finished fish sauces made from soda have been turned over to be used for livestock.
Source: Hoàng Đan – Soha.vn
