The Deputy Director of the Da Nang Department of Health, Dr Nguyen Ut, on Tuesday said that 100% of the 84 randomly tested samples of fresh “bun” (rice vermicelli), “banh canh” (rice spaghetti) and “banh pho” (rice noodles) did not contain any chemicals banned in food processing. 

The samples, which were collected from production establishments throughout the city, were taken for toxicity tests for sulphite (a whitening agent) and for borax and formol (chemical preservative agents).

6 of the 84 samples were further tested for tinopal CBS-X (a fuorescent whitening agent), oxalic acid (a cleaning agent), and sodium benzoate (an antifungal agent) but none were found.

According to reports from 6 out of 7 local districts, the city is now home to 277 such production establishments.  The district-level authorities are waiting for approval from the city authorities before they can grant food safety and hygiene certificates to the food production establishments in their areas which have met the city’s regulations.