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Pano feedVietnamese health experts have warned against China-originated fruits and farm produce containing unidentified preservatives that can be harmful to human health, such as causing mental poisoning or metabolic disorder.
(Youth) newspaper.
The official emphasized that residues of plant protection drugs in food will be harmful to eaters if they are beyond the acceptable levels.
“Excessive residue of chemicals used as preservatives, especially banned ones, in food can either cause acute poisoning or accumulate in the eaters’ bodies, leading to chronic health problems,” he warned.
These chemicals can cause various health problems, including mental poisoning, metabolic disorders, boosting the aging process, or cell poisoning.
Basically, the effect that plant protection substances have on human health depends on their residue contents in fruits or agricultural products, Da said.
And the effects of these preservatives may vary from people to people, depending on the biological characteristics of each person, he added.
At present, more than 2,000 types of substances used for plant protection have been created, but Vietnamese experts can only test for about 600 of them, Da told Tuoi Tre.
In addition, numerous chemicals can be used as preservatives that can only be detected by reagents and proper testing methods, Da said.
Currently, laboratories of the Institute are using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) machines, of the advanced types, which are able to detect up to 400 substances per scan, he added.
However, these substances are those that have been already known to scientists and are listed as those that need to be controlled in food, the official said.
Therefore, in case Chinese growers or traders use any other substances for fruit preservation, the above LC-MS instruments cannot detect those substances, he said.
At meeting on Tuesday between the Ministry of Health and the authorities the northern province of Lang Son, which receives a large amount of fruits imported from China everyday, Da noted that Chinese pears that use unknown preservatives can remain fresh for five months after being exported to Vietnam.
The meeting focused on identifying fruit preservatives used by Chinese growers or traders and evaluating their effects on human health.
Tran Quang Trung, director of the health ministry’s Food Safety Department, told the meeting that his staffers will take samples of pear, apple, and watermelon imported from China through the Tan Thanh border gate in Lang Son for testing to detect preservatives, if any.
Other samples of Chinese fruits will later be taken from markets in Hanoi, from the Mong Cai border gate in Quang Ninh province, and from Lao Cai province, Trung said.
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>> Chinese pears with preservatives remain fresh after 5 months Pham Xuan Da, the rector of the National Institute for Food Control, made the warning on Wednesday in an interview with Tuoi Tre