Concerned with the specialty of My Thuy sea, after many years of nurturing, Mr. Tran Van No, born in 1970, in Hamlet 8, Dien Sanh town, Hai Lang district, has researched and successfully produced My An sea fish sauce with quality certified by 4-star provincial OCOP. The product is widely distributed by My An General Production and Trading Joint Stock Company to markets inside and outside the province. Mr. No works in the construction and mining engineering industry but is very passionate and knowledgeable about the production process of traditional products of his hometown.
Representative of My An General Production and Trading Joint Stock Company (first, right) received the certificate of My An sea fish sauce as a 4-star OCOP product of Quang Tri province in 2022 - Photo: DC
Passionate about hometown specialties
Although his professional work has absolutely nothing to do with general commercial production or processing, Mr. No still has a special love for traditional craft villages and the products of his hometown.
He spent many years studying and researching the production process of Kim Long wine and other specialties of Hai Lang. He is currently the Mine Operations Director of VICO Quang Tri Investment and Minerals Joint Stock Company, and a legal expert at My Thuy Port of My Thuy International Port Joint Stock Company.
Since 2016, Mr. No has been dreaming of creating a specialized, closed process in the production of My Thuy sea fish sauce and has been wondering how to overcome the limitations of traditional fish sauce production in the locality. From here, he has invested more effort and time into this project.
“At first, when they heard about my idea, many people thought it was not feasible because the fish sauce specialty village in My Thuy beach has been producing it according to traditional manual recipes for generations. On the other hand, I am not originally from My Thuy, so opening a closed fish sauce production facility right here was considered “showing off an axe in front of an expert”. However, I was still determined to carry out my plan,” Mr. No recounted.
My An fish sauce products are quality tested, extracted and bottled through a closed pipeline system - Photo: DC
Also in 2016, Mr. No spent a lot of time visiting scientific and technical research centers and traditional craft villages in many provinces and cities across the country such as Ha Tinh, Nghe An... to learn about the clean fish sauce production process of the people here. He shared: "Through research, I found that the traditional fish sauce production process of the people in the My Thuy coastal area depends and is greatly affected by the weather, leading to the fermentation process to create fish sauce not being guaranteed.
The traditional method of fermenting fish sauce in cement jars and tanks can contain few ingredients, and on the other hand, it is easy to pollute the environment and is not hygienic. In 2017, after learning about the new production process using modern technology to overcome the above limitations, I decided to open a fish sauce production facility right in My Thuy village, Hai An commune, Hai Lang district, with a total initial investment of over 200 million VND for 3 fermenting tanks and 5.1 tons of mackerel purchased from ships at Cua Viet port.
Mr. No said that the production technology of the facility, which he researched himself, uses a temperature control system to keep the temperature of the fermentation tanks stable at 45-50 degrees Celsius, and a solar energy system to heat the fermentation process according to standards. When the fish sauce is ripe, a technical team will check the quality, extract it and bottle it through a closed pipeline system.
Regarding the fermentation process, Mr. No invested in composite and stainless steel fermentation tanks with a capacity of nearly 2 tons of raw materials per tank. Each fishing season, the company purchases about 100 tons of mackerel at Cua Viet beach. With a completely closed production process, ensuring environmental hygiene, the time to have a delicious fish sauce product with the right flavor and color as desired is about 10 months to 1 year.
During the production process, Mr. No hired many local workers who had experience in making traditional fish sauce and did not hide his technology but always shared and explained its differences and effectiveness so that many people would know and apply it.
In 2018, Mr. No's production facility produced the first batch of 3,500 liters of pure fish sauce. "The first time I saw the golden drops of fish sauce produced from the technology I owned, I was happy because the efforts of myself and my brothers had initially succeeded. My An sea fish sauce is a product that we have carefully collected from our homeland's sea and will bring to all regions," he said emotionally.
When the product was made, confident about the quality of the fish sauce being safe for the health of users, Mr. No gave it to many people in My Thuy to try. The exciting thing is that most of the coastal people here, especially those who have been in the profession for a long time, highly appreciated the quality and color of the new product from the closed clean technology.
Efforts to affirm the brand
From the success of the first production, in 2019, Mr. No invested in expanding the factory, buying 7 more composite tanks, bringing the total to 10 tanks, investing in more facilities and gradually perfecting the production line in a more professional manner. At the same time, he continued to make efforts to adjust the saltiness of the fish sauce and the design to suit the tastes of the majority of consumers. From there, he stabilized the product quality to gradually reach more people, bringing the specialty of My Thuy hometown to the market.
The fermentation tank of My An General Production and Trading Joint Stock Company uses a solar energy system to heat the fermentation process - Photo: DC
On September 9, 2021, My An General Production and Trading Joint Stock Company was officially established. According to Mr. No, the name "My An" has many meanings. These are two abbreviations taken from the place where the company's fish sauce products are produced: in My Thuy village, Hai An commune. In addition, this name also has additional meanings: "my" means beautiful, "an" means food safety.
Regarding the company's workforce, Mr. No selects truly dedicated and hard-working employees who have faith in new products to accompany them for a long time. Over the years, the staff of My An General Production and Trading Joint Stock Company has actively done marketing and introduction work, not hesitating to go to remote villages and hamlets in the province to bring products to consumers.
With efforts to develop the My Thuy hometown fish sauce brand in the market, the company currently sells 7,000-10,000 bottles of various types of fish sauce each month.
In 2022, My An sea fish sauce products were recognized as 4-star OCOP products of Quang Tri province. Thanks to always ensuring food hygiene and safety, not using toxic additives, no colorants... the product has a shimmering straw yellow color, a special aroma, and cannot be confused with other types of fish sauce.
Although it has just stabilized production, My An fish sauce with its salty and delicious flavor is loved by many consumers in and outside the province. Currently, there are 2 types of pure and ready-to-drink fish sauce for users to choose from. Up to now, the company produces about 18,000 liters of fish sauce annually; bringing in revenue of about 900 million VND.
Mr. No added: “Although the company still has difficulty reaching many customer segments, we are very excited because My An fish sauce products are now available in many markets, stores, and clean food supermarkets throughout the province; widely distributed to markets outside the province such as Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Thua Thien Hue province... In the coming time, we will strive to adjust the salinity according to customer feedback, bring the product to supermarket systems, and retail distribution nationwide so that more and more people can enjoy the rich, unique products of Quang Tri sea...”.
Hoai Diem Chi
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