Illustrative image (Source: internet)Hanoi (VNA) – Using
iodine in salt, a health step long enforced in Western countries, cannot by
itself improve in , experts agreed at a
conference held last week in Hanoi.
The conference, run
by the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) and
the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), was told that Decree
09/2016/NĐ-CP issued by the Government on September 28 last year, regulated the
micro improvement in food to overcome the shortage.
The decree gave enterprises
one year in which to supplement iodine into ingredients for processed food.
However, a survey on July
this year conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development ()
and the Ministry of Health (MoH) at several fish sauce processing enterprises
showed that not one had followed the rule. Only salt processing enterprises observed
the rule.
Pham Quang Tung, an
official from MARD, said enterprises said that salt being used to preserve fish
must be kept for more than one year to eliminate different impurities. If
iodine salt was preserved for more than one year, the iodine would not remain,
they said.
The enterprises were afraid
that iodine salt would change the colour and taste of their products. Moreover,
no pilot fish sauce products being made from iodine salt have ever been
developed.
Other research by the MoH
showed that only six percent of residents used iodine salt in their daily
meals, and most of them were ethnic minorities.
Experts at the conference
also showed the consequences of iodine shortage on people’s health, especially
pregnant women and children.
Nghiem Vu Khai, deputy
chairman of the VUSTA, said that the VUSTA would further proposals related to
the use of iodine supplements in food to the Government and concerned organizations.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
