Identify foods that are easily 'poisoned' with chemicals

Many people make bean sprouts at home to ensure food hygiene and safety – Photo: T.VINH

What foods are easily "poisoned" with chemicals and how can we know to avoid them?

What chemicals do they use?

According to experts, some foods are easily soaked in chemicals to preserve or stimulate rapid growth. In particular, with bamboo shoots, during the drying process, to prevent mold, manufacturers can add sulfur to the product, or soak in chemicals to make the bamboo shoots whiter and more beautiful.

Bean sprouts may contain 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP), a growth stimulant that helps bean sprouts grow faster, plumper, and more fatty. Ham and sausage may contain borax, a chemical banned from use in food preservation and processing.

According to Dr. Nguyen Trong Hung - Head of Adult Nutrition Department (National Institute of Nutrition), many production and processing facilities still secretly use borax to help ham and sausages be delicious, chewy and crispy, and especially not spoil for a long time.

Borax can cause chronic poisoning if used in low doses for a long time, which can lead to digestive disorders, absorption, nutrient metabolism, and damage to the liver, kidneys, and brain.

Particularly vulnerable groups are children and pregnant women.

Regarding chemicals in bean sprouts, Associate Professor Nguyen Duy Thinh - former lecturer at the Institute of Biotechnology and Food, Hanoi University of Science and Technology - said that 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) is a growth stimulant, so this chemical is very dangerous when consumed by humans.

It disrupts the body's growth and development processes, causing abnormal cell development, especially nerve cells, which adversely affects human health.

“Especially for pregnant women, this chemical can affect the development of the fetus, causing the fetus to develop abnormally, possibly leading to premature birth, hydrocephalus, and malformations,” said Mr. Thinh.

Identify chemically treated products

According to Dr. Hung, it is possible to detect borax in the product by using a quick test. Currently, this quick test is sold a lot, the price is also reasonable, so everyone can buy a box to use gradually when needed to protect the health of themselves and their families.

When pressing the rapid test stick into food such as ham or sausage, if a red color appears, that product contains borax.

“If you don’t use a test stick, you can tell by smell, sight, and taste… Ham soaked in borax often has a strong smell, the leaves wrapping the ham are loose and dry. The ham is crumbly, with no holes on the surface. Especially if the ham is unusually tough and smooth, it has been mixed with borax during processing.

When cut, good ham will have many holes on the surface, a light pink color, and the wrapping leaves will stick to the ham," Dr. Hung advised.

As for the price, Mr. Thinh instructed that to identify with the naked eye, people can pay attention to the characteristics. For the price made in the traditional way, it will not be fat, the roots will not be long. Looking at it with the naked eye, these products do not look as beautiful as products that use stimulants.

The type of bean sprouts that use stimulants look plumper, more fatty, more crispy, and more easily broken. In addition, clean bean sprouts also have a natural yellow color, not the porcelain white color of chemically soaked products. Therefore, he advises consumers that when shopping, if they see unusual or slightly unusual prices, they should not buy them, and should not blindly buy them just because they look good.

Handling many violators of mixing borax to make ham

Recently, the Investigation Police Agency of Da Nang Police has prosecuted and temporarily detained Mr. Pham Xu Ty - the owner of a facility specializing in making sausages containing borax on Nhon Hoa 12 Street (Hoa An Ward, Cam Le District, Da Nang), and at the same time prosecuted and banned his wife from leaving her place of residence.

Both are being investigated for violating food safety regulations.

In another case, the People's Court of a district in Ha Nam province recently tried Mr. LVH for violating food safety regulations. Mr. H. used borax to process sausages to help them become chewy and crispy, and to extend their shelf life.

The Court determined that the crime was dangerous to society, violated the State's regulations on food hygiene and safety, directly affected the health and lives of consumers protected by law, and caused insecurity in food production and business in the area.

Mr. H.'s actions violated the Law on Food Safety and Hygiene, Circular No. 24/2019 of the Ministry of Health regulating the management and use of food additives. The Court declared Mr. H. guilty of violating food safety regulations and fined him 60 million VND.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhan-biet-nhung-thuc-pham-de-bi-tam-doc-hoa-chat-2025010722153999.htm