Deputy Prime Minister requests to handle information 'Durian still struggling to deal with yellow O substance'

The Government Office has just issued document No. 4446/VPCP-NN conveying the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha regarding the information "Durian is still struggling to deal with yellow O substance" recently reported by the press.

Accordingly, the Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to study the above press information, proactively direct and handle according to assigned functions, tasks and authority.

Previously, information reported by the press showed: "Durian is still struggling to solve the problem of yellow O". It clearly stated: The decline in durian exports is not only a matter of quality but also clearly reflects the consequences of an unsustainable development process.

While Thailand is very methodical, managing from root to tip, durian production in Vietnam is almost entirely done by farmers themselves, based on word of mouth experience. Technical processes and types of fertilizers containing cadmium are not widely publicized. This makes it difficult for purchasing businesses to collect from many places, the quality of durian is uneven and residue is difficult to control.

Even at the beginning of this year when China tightened the testing of gold O, Vietnam only had a few testing centers with enough capacity to conduct centralized testing in big cities, and no center in raw material areas could do the testing.

Mr. Nguyen Van Muoi - Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association raised the issue that currently a large amount of durian is consumed domestically and sold to people to eat, but there is no unit to check the quality, which is a huge loophole.

Many opinions say that the durian industry needs to strengthen the production process, tighten quality control and build a close chain of links between farmers - businesses - management agencies. Only when "clean from the root", can Vietnamese durian be truly sweet for a long time, maintaining its position in the hearts of international consumers.

Yellow O (Auramine O) chemical name is Diarylmethane. This is a substance used to create color in industry, banned from use in animal husbandry, not used to produce, process agricultural products, food additives. Yellow O is toxic to living organisms in general and has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a group 3 carcinogen, meaning it has a high potential to cause cancer. This substance ranks 5th out of 116 leading carcinogens in the world.

Thanh Ha

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/pho-thu-tuong-yeu-cau-xu-ly-thong-tin-sau-rieng-van-loay-hoay-giai-quyet-chat-vang-o-post549145.html