Paper stirs up debate over ready-made rice porridge for kids

Ready-cooked porridges for kids that are marketed as “nutritious products” have become popular in HCM City. Tuoi Tre says its tests show that this product may contain harmful preservatives.

Chemicals used in nutritious porridges are sold for only 50,000-80,000/kg.

Tuoi Tre Newspaper, which has a penchant for investigative journalism, is now stirring up a fuss over the ready-cooked rice porridges for children that are collectively known as chao dinh dưỡng, a new best-seller in the primary school lunch market. 

On November 30, it reported that one of its staff met a chemical provider named N in the guise of a man who wanted to develop a new nutritional porridge.  N said that he supplies chemicals to a number of well-known nutritious porridge producers in HCM City.

The merchant introduced some of the chemicals that are used by porridge producers. Among them was sodium benzoate (50,000 dong per kilo). N explained that sodium benzoate is used as a preservative to keep food from spoiling. The trader said every porridge enterprise has its own recipe and uses different amounts of the chemical.

N said he advised companies to use about one gram of sodium benzoate per kilogram of rice porridge. If a porridge maker wanted to keep food fresh longer or if hygienic conditions were poor, N added, he could increase the amount to two or three grams of the chemical.

According to N, rice porridge containing sodium benzoate will be still delicious after 2-3 days at room temperature.

Next, N introduced Xanthan Gum, an industrial food thickener. If porridge is watery, using the agent will help it look more pleasing, because a thicker porridge can support scraps of shrimp, eel and fish on the surface. A kilo of Xanthan Gum is only 50,000 dong but it can help producers “save” a large volume of rice and meat.

Next, Tuoi Tre reporters bought four ready-made porridge products from two businesses on No Trang Long street, Binh Thanh District (HCMC), and took the four samples to the Center of Analytical Services and Experimentation for tests. On November 27, the center reported that the four porridge samples contained as little as 192 milligrams and as much as 444 milligrams per kilogram of sodium benzoate.

Notably, the lables of these products do not list sodium benzoate or any other preservative chemical, such as potassium sorbate. They only list ingredients like rice, meat stock, pork, fish or vegetables.

HCM City Chief Health Inspector Nguyen Minh Hung said on November 29 that, advised of Tuoi Tre’s investigation, the Health Department had launched its own investigation into several businesses, taking rice porridge samples for testing. Official test results will be publicized shortly, he said.

Another Health Department inspector told Tuoi Tre that businesses are not permitted to use any chemicals in porridge unless they first gain permission from the Ministry who will inspect the origin and safety of the agents.

Dr. Tran Van Ky from the Vietnam Association of Food Science and Technology said some additives are allowed in food sold as nutritious, but businesses must first obtain permission from the health ministry; the origin and content of the chemicals must be determined.

Children are especially vulnerable to chemical additives, Ky said, and can suffer adverse health problems from ingesting them. Consuming large amounts of such chemicals can lead to malnourishment, poor growth and attention deficits.

Dr. Nguyen Xuan Mai, former deputy head of the HCMC Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, said babies are particularly at risk of developing liver and kidney problems if they consume certain food additives over a long period.

What do producers and managers say?

Tuyet Lan, a representative of the Song Kim Company, the producer of Cay Thi Nutiritious Porridge, admitted that there’s sodium benzoate in the product.  She explained that the Health Ministry permits it’s use at the level of one gram per kilogram (0.1%) and her company only used “one fifth of the permitted level.”  Cay Thi Nutritious Porridge is now available in several provinces, including Hanoi.

Vu Ngoc Tan, director of the Vu Hoang Mai Company, acknowledged that in mid-November 2009, this company experimentally used sodium benzoate in its Hoang Mai Nutritious Porridge, but it recently stopped using this chemical because it made the flavour of porridge worse.

He said his company didn’t note this chemical on its label because it “was still in the testing stage.” Tan also said that his company produces several thousands of 250 gram bags of porridge daily to sell to hundreds of shops in HCM City and Binh Duong province.

Nutritious porridge is sold everywhere, Tuoi Tre notes, but how do government agencies control its quality?

Nguyen Thi Giau, chief of the Health Division of Go Vap District, said early this year they inspected two porridge producers based in Go Vap. “Both of them had certificates of food safety so we didn’t take samples for tests,” Giau said.

Ha Van Sac, chief of the Health Division of District 12, said that on November 27, the Division inspected Song Kim Company, the producer of Cay Thi porridge. Previously, health inspectors hadn’t checked this firm “because  there was no article warning about the quality of nutritious porridge.”

Le Truong Giang, deputy director of the HCM City’s Health Department, said health inspectors only checked hygiene and the facilities of porridge producers, but not the product because they are very busy. He added health inspectors will make use of the media’s reportage as the foundation for an investigation and will strictly punish violators.

Dr. Nguyen Cong Khan, chief of the Health Ministry’s Food Hygiene Department said on December 1 that the agencies have asked HCM City to forward the testing results of nutritious porridge products.

Khan said the use of sodium benzoate in porridge and noodles is allowed, but it is important to know how much it is used.

Hanoi Chief Health Inspector Nguyen Viet Cuong also said that this week, the Hanoi Department of Health will collect samples and make tests of porridge products sold in the city.

According to Cuong, there are three or four providers of ready-made rice porridge in Hanoi and this product has been sold to schools.

In HCM City, Cay Thi Porridge is sold in the Children’s Hospital 2. The hospital’s director said that this product has been sold in the hospital for one month. This product has a food hygiene and safety certificate granted by the HCM City Department of Health so the hospital allowed the sales of this product in its canteen.

After Tuoi Tre reported about the use of chemicals in porridge, the hospital asked Cay Thi to test its product.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre/GD-XH