A Ho Chi Minh City fruit stand. Some fruit providers admit they spray their fruits with unregistered chemicals to make the produce ripen quicker and last longer.

Health authorities are testing samples of unidentified chemicals that fruit sellers from Hanoi’s suburban districts use on their produce as they fear the substances may pose a health risk, an official said Monday.

Trinh Cong Toan, head inspector of the Plant Protection Department (PPD), said the test results are expected to be released this week.

He told Tuoi Tre that though it’s been clear for years that Vietnamese produce sellers often use unknown additives to treat and preserve their fruit, he said their use had become more rampant and blatant recently.

The widespread confiscation and testing was sparked by local media reports on the use of Ethrel – an unregulated fruit additive – at Thu Que Village, the capital city’s major distribution center for fruits from the provinces.

PPD Deputy Head Bui Sy Doanh told Sai Gon Giai Phong last week that the department would order agencies to confiscate all Ethrel from plant chemical sellers in and around Hanoi.

Thu Que locals say fruit sellers there spray their fruits with Ethrel made in China to make the produce ripen quicker and last longer.

Toan said tests on the chemical had been inconclusive, without explaining why.

Admitting that without conclusive tests, his department could not determine Ethrel’s components or affects on human health, Toan did say the chemical makes the color and skin of fruit more vibrant and smooth.

He said more tests were needed and that most Ethrel was imported illegally from China and was thus difficult to control.

Former head of Food Hygiene and Safety Administration Tran Dang was sure the substance is detrimental to human health.

He said an Ethrel label he read stated that direct contact with the chemical must be avoided as it can “corrode metal and burn the eyes and skin.”

Tran Khac Thi, deputy head of the National Institute of Fruit Research, said Ethrel can be found in Calcium Carbide, but that it was indeed harmful when applied in a liquid state on fruit.

But Dr. Tran Hanh Phuc from the Institute of Tropical Biology told Tuoi Tre Ethrel is less likely to cause harm if it is mixed with water at a rate lower than 1/100.

Combined with water, Ethrel produces ethylene – a gas that plants produce by themselves to ripen their fruits, according to Phuc.

What matters is to prove that the Ethrel being used has clear origins and is not mixed with other chemicals, Phuc said.

Doanh said the PPD – which operates under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development – had plans to tighten the controls over local plant chemicals sellers.

The department also plans to begin checking for the excessive use of chemicals on fruits throughout the country, Doanh said without mentioning when the inspections would be officially launched.

The market

With more than 100 local families working as fruit sellers and growers, Thu Que Village provides tons of bananas and papayas to Hanoi wholesale markets everyday.

M., who lives in the village, said all local fruit sellers and growers use the chemical to ripen fruits quickly, adding that it can also help keep fruits’ fresh color for long periods of time.

Thu, another woman in the village, said sellers in the village apply Ethrel on their newly-arrived fruits every afternoon before covering them with plastic. She said this can make unripe fruits ripen overnight.

But she said “local people here do not dare to eat the fruit they spray Ethrel,” Thu said. “These fruits are for sale only.”

It costs around VND800 to buy a five-milliliter-bottle of Ethrel and 10 bottles are enough for 100 kilograms of fruits, said a chemical seller in Thu Que.

Many Hanoi fruit sellers said they also used Ethrel on pineapples and persimmons, adding that it is difficult to distinguish fruits sprayed with chemicals from those not.

H., who has a large fruit stall at the capital’s Long Bien Market, said all fruits at the market were sprayed with various chemicals to make them ripen quickly and hold longer.

Fruit sellers in Ho Chi Minh City favor Chinese fruits partly because they have richer colors and hold longer than Vietnamese produce, Thanh Ha, deputy director of the Tam Binh wholesale market in Thu Duc District, told Tuoi Tre.

A fruit shopkeeper on HCMC’s Dien Bien Phu Street said Chinese apples can be kept for 20 to 30 days thanks to a layer of preservatives applied on the fruits’ skin.

Director of Food Hygiene and Safety Control Center Le Thi Hong Hao said the center once took samples of fruits at local wholesale markets but did not detect any harmful preservatives.

She said it was likely that fruit sellers used preservatives that became undetectable after a few days.

Source: Agencies