In the last week of August a facility in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong was found to be ripening numerous immature durians with legal chemicals; this has sparked a debate in Vietnam over food safety.
On September 1, an inspection team raided a fruit facility in Di Linh District as employees were busy pouring some 700kg worth of green durians into a barrel containing a yellow liquid.
The facility owner confessed to officials that the liquid was a mixture of 40 liters of raw water, 500ml of a foliar fertilizer labeled HPC-97HXN and a little turmeric powder.
The facility opened in July and had frequently sourced unripe durians before artificially ripening them with the chemicals and offering them for sale. The facility manager did not say where the fruits would be sold.
The raid on the Lam Dong facility has given rise to concern among local consumers. The case has also ignited debate over the safety of the HPC-97HXN chemical, the main ingredient of the ‘magic liquid’ used to ripen the fruits.
In Vietnam, HPC-97HXN, commonly known as foliar fertilizer, is listed among chemicals allowed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. It was said that the facility in Lam Dong did nothing wrong in using a legal chemical in expediting the ripeness of their durians.
Media reports of the inspection in Lam Dong have also been blasted for creating false concern among consumers, potentially causing durian farmers to go bankrupt as people turn their back on the tropical fruit.
However, on Saturday 3 September, the Lam Dong Plant Protection Department officially addressed the issue, saying that it was inappropriate to use HPC-97HXN to boost durians' ripeness.
“HPC-97HXN is allowed to be used as a fertilizer, and is listed among banned chemicals for agricultural produce preservation,” department head Lai The Hung said.
Hung added HPC-97HXN contains many allowed regulators for plant ripeness, but at the same time, “there are many kinds of heavy metals and other substances that are only good for the plants, rather than their fruits.”
“Consequently, it is wrong to douse harvested fruits with any mixture that contains HPC-97HXN.”
Hang Van Chuc, head of the economic bureau of Di Linh District, said tests on the seized durians showed that the fruits contained many heavy metal residues. The durians would therefore be destroyed, he added.
Nguyen Xuan Hong, former head of the Plant Protection Department under the agriculture ministry, said there is no allowable ripeness regulator in Vietnam.
