Vietnamese consumers are appealing to their government to introduce a food certification and labeling system to distinguish “safe” produce from “unsafe” fruits and vegetables, reports www.vietnamnet.vn.
Shoppers want to be able to identify local produce grown using good agricultural practices – where chemical inputs are restricted and closely monitored – with a standard label.
They also want government agencies to step up checks on market traders to prevent them from falsely selling un-regulated produce as so-called “safe” goods for a higher price.
The groundswell of opinion follows a spate of well-publicised incidents of high chemical levels found in market produce.
Over the last six months, Vietnam’s Department of Plant Protection has randomly tested 415 samples of vegetables and fruits from Vietnamese markets, and found 105 with high chemical content, the report said.
Nguyen Manh Hung, deputy chief of Vietnam Standards and Consumer Association (VINASTAS), said nearly 90 per cent of consumers considered vegetables to be the most important ingredient in their meal and most would pay a higher price for guaranteed “safe” vegetables.
