The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has co-operated with police to combat shrimp injected with gel.
Phạm Tiến Dũng, chief inspector of the ministry’s specialized inspection unit, said the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department had found many cases of gel injections into shrimps in the past several months.
On September 7, an inspection team in the southern province of Bạc Liêu found that a local shrimp trading business injected a liquid made of CMC (Carboxymethyl cellulose) powder. The business, owned by Đoàn Văn Phục of Đông Hải District’s Long Điền Commune, hired workers to inject the liquid into more than 63 kilogrammes of shrimps. More than 9 kilogrammes of CMC and tools such as needles were seized.
The NAFIQAD reported surprise inspections at 11 shrimp trading businesses in Cà Mau and Kiên Giang had found three that injected the chemical into shrimp. The businesses were fined VNĐ200 million ($8,800), each.
Early last month, a business in Hà Nội’s Hoàng Mai District was caught injecting the gel into 8 kilos of shrimp. Lê Quang Long, the business owner, admitted the violation.
Since last year, the departments of agriculture and rural development have inspected more than 10,300 firms and found that 1,107 conducted the gel injection into shrimp. They were fined up to VND2.4 billion ($105,600) in total.
Violators admitted that each gramme of CMC is sold at about VNĐ28,000 ($1.20). Three grams of the powder can be made into 50 kilos of liquid, which can be used for one tonne of shrimp.
VFM
