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VINASTAS’s incident provides warning lessons on managements of media and associations
VINASTAS’s incident provides warning lessons on managements of media and associations
1/11/16
Nearly 70 percent of
fish sauce samples analyzed in a recent survey by the nonprofit Vietnam
Standards and Consumers Association (Vinastas) contained more than the legal
limit of arsenic. Results showed 67.33 percent of the samples contained from 1
to 5mg of arsenic per liter of sauce, whereas the maximum allowable arsenic
content limit is 1 mg per liter. The survey covered 150 samples produced by 88
different fish sauce manufacturers and analysts found that only 16.67 percent
of the products met Vietnamese standards, Vinastas told reporters in a press
conference in October 17th in Hanoi. A controversial conclusion that
has caused a lot of impacts to the society, mostly negative ones.
Apparently,
this careless conclusion has cost significant damages to the local fish sauce
industry. In a complaint sent to the PM and several relevant agencies
on October 21, The Vietnam Association
of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the Ho Chi Minh City Foods
Association and three fish sauce associations in Nha Trang, Phan Thiet and Phu
Quoc said that VINASTAS' conclusion had caused misunderstandings about organic
arsenic in seafood which is not poisonous, and the toxic inorganic arsenic.
"VINASTAS' conclusion does not comply with
international standards on arsenic levels in foods in general and fish sauce in
particular. It also conflicts with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health's
regulations on inorganic arsenic levels in fish sauce," the complaint
said.
According to VASEP, VINASTAS' warning that fish sauce with
higher protein levels will be contaminated with higher arsenic levels is
worrying local people who use it every day and so threatening the local fish
sauce and seafood industry. There have been doubts and worries among local
consumers about fish sauce and some supermarkets and shops have stopped selling
the product including Fivimart, VASEP said.
Leaders of the five associations have asked the PM to
investigate the situation, assess their losses, and issue fines to those
illegally making and spreading information about the list of fish sauce
products containing high arsenic levels.
The Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc 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. The Ministry of
Health established an interdisciplinary inspection team made up of
representatives from the Ministries of Health, Industry and Trade and Agriculture
and Rural Development and other relevant agencies to inspect the observance of
legislation on food safety concerning the production and trading of fish sauce
in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Binh
Thuan.
A total of 247 samples from 210 brands produced by 82 fish
sauce manufacturers (both by traditional and industrial methods) at markets and
several supermarkets were randomly selected to be tested. The team found that
none of the samples taken for testing contained inorganic arsenic or other
heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium. They also did not detect any
samples of fish sauce produced from only water and chemicals. All
inspected manufacturers made fish sauce from fish, salt and food additives in different
proportions, according to the tests.
The use food additives is allowed in the process of fish
sauce production provided that the additives are included in the permitted list
and that their contents do not exceed the allowable limit as stipulated and
ensure the purity of the fish sauce. There is no limit on the maximum
number of food additives allowed to be used for one product. These regulations
of the Ministry of Health are definitely in accordance with the Codex standards
for food additives, as well as the regulations of other countries in the ASEAN
region and around the world.
In
conclusion, the information saying that fish sauce is made from water and
chemicals and contains inorganic arsenic, a substance harmful to human health,
is not accurate, causing panic among consumers and having an adverse effect on
the production and trading of the fish sauce manufactured by both traditional
and industrial methods. For the goals of protecting the health and rights of
consumers, as well as ensuring the legitimate business rights of enterprises as
stipulated by the law, the MOH insisted that the provision of information
relating to food safety be objective, accurate, honest, sufficient and timely.
Here, we can see how excessive
VINASTAS abused its power to manipulate information and caused a threatening
information campaign. It is unclear what this association’s purposes but seeing
losses, no one could view them as for common good to the people. Minister
of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan described the reports as a
“media incident”. Firstly, the information from VINASTAS is unclear and does
not explain that arsenic comes in organic and inorganic forms. Some analysts
sensed it as a filthy business campaign from artificial sauces industry.
There is a sign of abnormality in the release of the
document. The abnormality here is that following the release of the communiqué’
by VINASTAS, the document was then reprinted or quoted by many on social
networks. The way the story reported was the same, even the headlines. This
shows negligence in the work of our reporters and sub-editors.
However, many readers, with their good scientific knowledge,
immediately recognized something was wrong with these articles. They
immediately thought there must be someone behind the scenes trying to cause
damage to our traditional fish sauce for their own benefit. The feedback from technical
people and their analysis in many newspapers and online provided good insight
for readers to draw their own conclusions.
But, if there had been no negligence or poor
scientific knowledge of some in the media or even deliberate distortion of the
truth, and reporters writing stories about food safety should read the Ministry
of Health’s safety standards. The inaccurate scientific information wouldn’t
have been so widespread across the country. This is an important lesson for managing and supervising the
media and associations, especially in making laws on press and associations./.
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All comments [ 10 ]
This communication incident was abnormal and I have followed the incident closely. The term arsenic used in the press communiqué released by Vinatas is murky.
In my opinion, Vinastas should make clear the difference between organic and inorganic arsenic present in the fish sauce. Arsenic is known as a poison and carcinogen, but the organic form found in seafood is generally believed to be harmless.
Reporters writing stories about food safety should read the Ministry of Health’s safety standards. I’m sure if they read the Ministry of Health food safety standards, there wouldn’t have been such “a threatening communication campaign”.
Many people have said social media has become a ‘weapon’ used in the recent ‘war’ between producers of industrial fish sauce and traditional fish sauce.
The Ministry of Information and Communication has been working with all information outlets to make the Vietnamese media clean and efficient and ensure Vietnamese media workers are law abiding citizens.
The information saying that fish sauce is made from water and chemicals and contains inorganic arsenic, a substance harmful to human health, is not accurate, causing panic among consumers and having an adverse effect on the production and trading of the fish sauce manufactured by both traditional and industrial methods.
VINASTAS must explain to the public that organic arsenic in fish sauce causes no harm to people's health, and soon produce a clear explanation regarding the standards of fish sauce.
the announcement has created a misunderstanding about arsenic. Arsenic is divided into organic (not harmful) and inorganic (harmful) forms. The organic form found in seafood is not harmful.
The testing is not suitable with international standards on arsenic content in food and also MoH’s standards on arsenic content in fish sauce.
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.
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