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HANOI: Vietnam’s fragrant noodle soups and fresh spring rolls have won fans around the world, but growing food safety scandals on the country’s streets are causing a growing wave of anxiety among millennials about what they eat .
Tran Huong Lan, a 32-year-old accountant, spent two nights in the hospital the last time she ate bun cha, Hanoi’s signature pork noodles eaten by former US President Barack Obama and the late chef Anthony Bourdain on a visit four years ago. .
“About two hours after lunch I started to feel bad. I went home and started vomiting,” he told AFP.
Rushed to the hospital by her husband, doctors told her there was only one explanation: food poisoning.
Lan did not eat out for a month after her fear, and frequent high-profile food safety scandals have fueled the fears of others.
READ: 5 Things You Should Know About Food Poisoning
In July, 14 people were taken to hospital in serious condition after being poisoned by a vegan pate. Many experienced droopy eyelids and paralyzed respiratory muscles.
In addition to anxiety over hygiene standards, there is growing concern about the high use of pesticides in vegetables and herbs that are included in typical street food dishes, such as fresh shrimp rolls and bo bread, dried noodles. with beef.
About 70 per cent of young people aged 16 to 30 said that food security was their biggest concern, ranking the same as job security, when surveyed by the British Council in Vietnam this year.
Truong Quoc Tung, director of the Vietnam Plant Protection Association, said recently that the problem is approaching “crisis proportions.”
“Banned pesticides are being used, the environment is polluted, and agricultural products are being returned after being sent abroad,” he told state media.
Food security problems cost Vietnam about $ 740 million a year in productivity, says the World Bank.
Heavy metals found in soil or water used for agriculture in Vietnam can contribute significantly to the incidence of some forms of cancer, says the World Bank. (Photo: AFP / Manan VATSYAYANA)
“SAFE FOOD
But across the country, from lush fields to small urban rooftop gardens, Vietnamese are doing what they can to ensure they eat safely.
Ngo Xuan Quyet, 26, made a living selling pesticides before switching to “safe” farming.
With the help of Rikolto, a non-governmental organization that promotes safe food policies, it is trying to ensure that its lettuce, chives and herbs, grown with a strictly controlled dose of pesticides, make it into as many bread bowls as possible. .
READ: Comment: We take food safety for granted, but it’s harder to keep track of food management in a globalized world
“When I worked (at the pesticide company) I really got to know the chemicals they contain,” said Quyet, who studied agriculture at university.
“I learned about the terrible impact (of overuse) … and started wanting to grow safe vegetables.”
At the moment “we are targeting work canteens, school canteens and supermarkets, but my goal is also to reach pregnant women, who need a lot to eat quality food,” he added.
Heavy metals found in soil or water used for agriculture in Vietnam can contribute significantly to the incidence of some forms of cancer, says the World Bank, while heavy use of pesticides can also have impacts. long-term.
In the southern provinces, between 38 and 70 percent of farmers used pesticides above the recommended level in 2014, the latest figures available, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. The amount of pesticide used in Vietnam has been relatively stable since then, he says.
The import ban on herbicides containing glyphosate, classified as “probably carcinogenic” by the World Health Organization (WHO), will take effect next year, but it is not clear how rigorously it will be applied.
Priced 10 to 20 percent higher than standard vegetables, Quyet’s products are for sale in two large supermarkets in Hanoi.
A growing proportion of the county’s urban consumers are willing to pay more, according to the World Bank, while some are turning their backs on traditional street food stalls.
READ: A look at the illicit trade in smuggled vegetables in Singapore
About 70 per cent of 16 to 30 year olds said food security was their biggest concern, ranking the same as job security, when surveyed by the British Council in Vietnam this year. (Photo: AFP / Manan VATSYAYANA)
ROOF CULTURE
Phan Thi Lien, a working officer in Saigon, increasingly sits at a plate of bun cha in a small restaurant rather than on the side of the road.
“I often come to restaurants because state officials control these places, so it’s safer than street food (stalls),” he says while having lunch at Baba, a restaurant that tries to recreate the street food experience, but with guaranteed traceability. of the food.
Many, and not just millennials, are also investing in their own food supply to ensure their health.
Le Thi Thanh Thuy, 69, grows lettuce, bluebells and more than a dozen other vegetables on his roof in western Hanoi.
“During the summer, the vegetables that I grow on the roof are enough for my family,” he said, explaining that he spends up to two hours a day tending his harvest.
“Sometimes the vegetables we buy from the market can look nice and fresh, but we don’t know where they came from and what they used to grow.”
For Quyet, the dream is to ensure quality products everywhere, from the wet local market to the cheap food stall like fries on the corner.
But he admits: “I think it will take a long time.”
