January 31, 2007

Vietnam health officials to probe Ho Chi Minh eggs containing cancer-causing dye

Despite the announcement by the Chemistry Association and the HCM City Science and Technology Department on January 27 that eggs sold in Ho Chi Minh City were discovered to have Sudan colourant, the Food Safety Agency under the Ministry of Health said that it still needed to conduct more tests to make the final conclusion on whether the eggs sold in Vietnam contained the harmful substance or not.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, the agency's deputy head, said it would join forces with the National Nutrition Institute and the Hanoi Health Care Department to take samples of eggs for testing.

Phong said that the information provided by the HCM City Science and Technology Department was reliable but will not be the basis whether the eggs sold in Vietnam contain the dye.

He said the number of egg samples taken by HCM agencies is not big enough to represent all the eggs in the market.

The Ministry of Health will take egg samples from those with clear origins and from the ones that don't have clear sources to determine which egg contains the carcinogenic colourant.

 Phong said test results would be available in 7 to 10 days and will firstly inform production units, sales agents and consumers.

Meanwhile, Chief Inspector of the Hanoi Health Care Department Nguyen Viet Cuong said that it was the responsibility of the Veterinary Sub-department to clarify if the eggs in HCM actually contained the harmful substance.

Cuong said there has been no information about whether the eggs in Hanoi also have sudan.

The chief inspector said they would spearhead the nationwide examination on the quality of eggs sold on the market.