The recent incident of many brands of soy sauce being found to contain high level of 3-MPCD, a toxin reportedly linked to cancer, has raised public awareness of food safety. The methods for production of "clean" soy sauce have become a hot topic among consumers and producers, the main topic of the 3-MPCD Prevention Strategies in Soy Sauce Conference this morning.

A representative of a local soy sauce producer speaks at the conference. (Photo:K.H)

Soy sauce producers expressed their concerns on the situation. According to the representative of the HCMC Sauce Club, when one product line has problems, consumers will boycott the rest of a company’s products. Therefore, soy sauce producers asked the authorities and press agents to draw up a detailed list of the specific toxic products rather than just giving out the names of the trademarks.

In order to standardize soy sauce quality, there was a proposal put forward for the building of a soy extraction factory and a registered additive dealer, providing high quality materials to all soy sauce manufacturers.

The topic of technology transfer was quickly addressed at the conference and attracted much attention from the delegates. Saigon Coop and Nam Duong Soy Sauce committed to transfer their "clean" soy sauce manufacturing technology to any producers in need. Since 2005, Nam Duong Company has gained relative success with its "clean" soy sauce products. Immediately after the toxic soy sauce incident, the Nam Duong Company has withdrawn all of its toxic products and concentrated on producing the "clean" soy sauce only.

Consumers also had their voice heard in the conference. A representative of the Can Tho Consumer Protection Association said that soy sauce producers should not give excuses such as outdated technology and limited budget to avoid the responsibility. What matters is whether they are aware of how much damage they have done to their consumers and how to solve the problem and win their consumers’ trust back.

Local consumers now take a watchful eye on soy sauce products after some of them prove to have high levels of toxic 3-MPCD.

HCMC Health Department takes action

According to Dr. Phan Minh Tan, the Department of Science and Technology will carry out continuing research on the production of "clean" soy sauce and will consider the proposal of establishing a joint stock soy sauce company and a hydrolysis factory for local soy sauce manufacturers.

Concerning the investigation process, an inspector from the HCMC Health Department admitted that the Department’s officials have made some mistakes during the process, including the lack of immediate reports on those violating the laws and on the ineffective administration system.

The HCMC Health Department also promised to carry out 3-MPCD level tests as well as other related tests not only on soy sauce but also on other sauce products on a nationwide scale. Those who fail to provide the 3-MPCD test results before June 10 will have their products withdrawn from the market immediately.

The conference took place at SGGP newspapers head office with the participation of local officials, soy sauce manufacturers and many reporters.

Related links:

Blacklisted Soy Sauce Factories Must Close: Official

Toxic Soy Sauce Alarms the Nation