Cigarette Heart: Unclear Origin, Confusing Prices

cigarette butt - Photo 1.

Some people from functional units were present at LC restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City on the afternoon of May 7 - Photo: NGOC KHAI

According to an expert in the field of animal husbandry, even real cigarette intestines pose a risk of being unsafe for users because this type of intestine often contains more parasites and worms.

As for whether or not it is counterfeit, or whether it contains substances that affect the health of users, samples need to be taken for testing.

The shop specializing in selling cigarette butts is temporarily closed.

At noon on May 7, Tuoi Tre reporters recorded that a branch of the C. restaurant chain on Hong Lac Street (HCMC), which is often mentioned for its pork intestine dish that is making waves on social media, suddenly stopped selling.

A male employee said the shop was temporarily closed due to an inspection, but refused to say when it would reopen or whether it would sell pipe hearts.

At a restaurant specializing in offal dishes near Tan Son Nhat airport, the offal dish has also disappeared in the past two days. Similarly, long-standing retail outlets in Ho Chi Minh City also shook their heads when we asked about the "favorite dish" offal dish, saying it was out of stock.

Meanwhile, slaughterhouses also confirmed that they rarely encounter pig intestines during the pig slaughtering process.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Tham - director of An Ha Service Company Limited - said that this type of intestine is rare even though this unit is operating a slaughterhouse that slaughters more than 1,000 pigs per day.

Mr. Nguyen Kim Doan, vice president of Dong Nai Livestock Association, said that pig intestines are usually only raised manually and free-range.

In this environment, natural food will affect the pig's digestive system, specifically the small intestine, which can create astringent intestines, but this ratio is quite low and if there is, it will only be a short segment.

"In industrial livestock farming, from the research stage of breeds, feed, and farming processes, there will be technical solutions to thin the small intestine of pigs to increase the ability to absorb food, helping pigs grow quickly. If the intestinal wall is thin, the intestine is flat and large, so there is almost no round, evenly-shaped intestine as usual," Mr. Doan affirmed.

As a business that slaughters hundreds of pigs every day, a representative of Vissan Company confirmed that pigs raised using the current industrial process almost do not have intestines and the unit does not sell this item, in fact, there are none for sale. In the case of pigs raised using the manual method, it is quite a matter of luck to have this type of intestine.

cigarette butt - Photo 2.

The photo "shocked" social networks

Flooded on the online market, chaotic prices

Meanwhile, users just need to go to Facebook, Zalo... and type in the keyword "long se dieu" to receive hundreds of ads with images of "white, evenly twisted, cleanly packaged small intestines" along with advertisements for selected, crispy, fatty, and rich products.

An account named NN in a food sales group with more than 34,000 members sells pork belly with the introduction "fresh, not frozen, fragrant and fatty, only available to those who order in advance".

This person even took a close-up video of each tray of offal, emphasizing "Ho Chi Minh City still has regular, beautiful deliveries". Others "attract" customers by declaring that even if you have money, you may not be able to buy it if you are slow.

According to our survey, the price of pipe hearts on the internet fluctuates greatly. Some places offer 120,000 - 400,000 VND/kg, others sell for 650,000 VND/kg... but you have to buy wholesale in batches of 10kg.

However, most sellers avoid when asked about the origin, only affirming that it is "selected goods, fresh intestines, not frozen" or labeling it "domestic pipe intestines, not Chinese goods".

Meanwhile, fresh food business groups are buzzing about this type of product being imported from China at a price of about 120,000 VND/kg, but being brought to Vietnam at a price many times higher.

Try typing in the keyword pig offal on Taobao - China's largest e-commerce platform, we see a series of frozen pig offal products appearing with shapes and colors quite similar to the type of pipe-shaped offal that is being advertised as rare and premium in Vietnamese restaurants and online markets.

Depending on the type of organ, the price starts from only 64 yuan, about 230,000 VND for 2.5kg.

Many products are listed at 7-8 yuan/500g, equivalent to 14 yuan/kg, less than 50,000 VND/kg. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, this type of intestine with a characteristic spiral shape is being "inflated" into a rare specialty, with some places selling it for up to 350,000 VND for only 100g, dozens of times higher than the original price on Chinese websites.

Mr. Le Viet Bao, head of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Animal Health, said that this unit controls the quality of pork and pig organs after slaughter at the slaughterhouse but does not have a separate category called "cigarette intestines". "If this type of product is rare in reality but appears too much on the market, there is a problem," Mr. Bao affirmed.

Expanding inspection of Hoc Mon and Binh Dien wholesale markets

Speaking to Tuoi Tre on May 7, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety said that during the day, they sent inspection teams from districts to inspect and check the quality and origin of goods at many pig offal businesses in the area.

The agency also took samples of intestines and tripe to test for quality, including some famous businesses such as Long Chat restaurant.

However, according to this agency, after checking some business locations, they did not see any sale of pipe core products, so they could not conclude the quality of this item. Sampling and testing will take time to get results.

According to this person, in addition to continuing to inspect restaurants and eateries, this agency will also inspect pig offal businesses at the city's two wholesale markets, Hoc Mon and Binh Dien.