Dak Nong takes precautions against chemically contaminated pepper

 

Dak Nong takes precautions against chemically contaminated pepper

On May 23, Mr. Ngo Xuan Dong, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dak Nong, said that the unit has just issued a document to propagate and recommend that people use standard white canvas bags to store pepper to avoid contamination of Sudan red into pepper products.

Mr. Dong added that recently, according to warning information from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, some shipments of pepper exported from Vietnam were found to be contaminated with Sudan Red, an industrial colorant banned from use in food.

Through initial verification, the main cause is that some people preserve pepper in colored packaging, use poor quality colored drying tarpaulins, and do not meet food standards during harvesting, leading to the contamination of colorants into the product.

The incident was only a small-scale contamination of a few shipments. However, since Sudan Red is an industrial chemical that is not used in food, timely recommendations are needed to prevent possible risks.

Many organizations and individuals in Dak Nong have used standard white packaging to preserve pepper.

The Department of Agriculture is actively coordinating with the Farmers' Association, the Cooperative Union, the Provincial Business Association and related levels and sectors to provide information and propaganda to control and prevent the risk of Sudan Red infection in pepper production.

Dak Nong strives to improve food safety quality of pepper products, contributing to protecting the reputation of the Vietnamese pepper industry in the market.

Dak Nong currently has 33,230 hectares of pepper, with an output of 72,000 tons in 2024. The province's pepper is the leading in the country in terms of area, output, and quality and has been granted the geographical indication "Dak Nong Pepper".