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HANOI (AFP) – 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 sparking 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 celebrity chef. Anthony Bourdain on a visit. four years ago.
“About two hours after lunch, I started to feel bad. I went home and started throwing up,” he told Agence France-Presse.
Rushed to the hospital by her husband, doctors told her there was only one explanation: food poisoning.
Tran did not eat out for a month after his fear, and frequent high-profile food safety scandals have fueled the fears of others.
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 bread bo (dried noodles). with beef).
About 70 per cent of people between the ages of 16 and 30 said food safety was their biggest concern, ranking the same as job safety, when the British Council in Vietnam surveyed them this year.
Truong Quoc Tung, director of the Vietnam Plant Protection Association, recently said the problem was 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.
Problems with food security cost Vietnam about $ 740 million (S $ 996 million) per year in productivity, according to the World Bank.
But across the country, from lush fields to small urban rooftop gardens, Vietnamese are doing what they can to ensure they eat safely.
Mr. Ngo Xuan Quyet, 26, used to sell pesticides for a living before switching to safe farming.
With the help of Rikolto, a non-governmental organization that promotes safe food policies, he is trying to ensure that his lettuce, chives and herbs, grown with a strictly controlled dose of pesticides, are turned into as many bread bowls as possible.
“When I worked (at the pesticide company), I really got to know the chemicals in them,” said Ngo, who studied agriculture at university.
“I learned about the terrible impact (of overuse) … and I started wanting to grow safe vegetables,” he said. 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 ban on the importation of herbicides containing glyphosate, classified as “probably carcinogenic” by the World Health Organization, will take effect next year, but it is unclear how rigorously it will be applied.
With a price between 10% and 20% higher than standard vegetables, Ngo products are on sale in two large supermarkets in Hanoi.
An increasing proportion of the county’s urban consumers are willing to pay more, according to the World Bank, while some turn their backs on traditional street food stalls.
Ms. Phan Thi Lien, an office worker in Saigon, increasingly sits at a plate of bun cha in a small restaurant rather than on the side of the road.
“I come to restaurants often as state officials check 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 guarantee. traceability of food.
Many, and not just millennials, are also investing in their own food supply to ensure their health.
Madam Le Thi Thanh Thuy, 69, grows lettuce, snowdrops and more than a dozen other vegetables on her roof in western Hanoi.
“During the summer, the vegetables I grow on the roof are enough for my family,” he said, explaining that he spends up to two hours a day tending his crop.
“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,” he said.
For Ngo, the dream is to guarantee quality products everywhere, from the wet local market to the cheap food stall like potato chips on the corner.
But he admits: “I think it will take a long time.”
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