Chemicals, Nutritional Imbalance Degrade Vietnamese People’s Meals

Meals of Vietnamese people have been degraded by an imbalance in nutrition and chemicals used in production and processing. Thus, it has created hazards for their health, such as food poisoning, functional disorder and diseases. According to the Food Safety Unit under the Ministry of Health, 3,100 people across the nation suffered from food poisoning during the first seven months this year, and 19 of them died. Although the numbers have decreased in comparison to the same period of 2014, the issue has remained a worrisome concern of locals in recent years. On the other hand, the number of cancer patients seems to be on the increase. A survey in the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital showed that the number of cancer patients has increased year by year. In 2014, around 12,000 cancer patients were under treatment at the hospital. And within the January-July this year, the number surged to nearly 14,000 people. Farmers in the countryside admitted that they have two different areas for planting vegetables and other farming products – one for sale to the market and the other for consumption by their own family. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam confirmed the fact in a recent meeting about the dangerous and rampant use of chemicals in agricultural production by farmers. They apply chemicals in the areas for sale and plant naturally in other areas for themselves. However, the ‘carefulness’ of farmers has failed to protect them from diseases because they directly contact chemicals during production and live in the environment which is contaminated by their chemicals. According to the National Nutrition Institute, Vietnamese people have a problem with nutritional proportions in their daily meals. Each person consumes only 200 grams of vegetables a day, which has remained unchanged since 1985. This only meets half of the rate recommended by the World Health Organization. Furthermore, the consumption rate of sugar and starch in the meals of Vietnamese people has doubled in ten years, from 16g per capita a day to 33g per capita on a daily basis now. (Tuoi Tre – Youth Aug 18)