All samples of salt products taken from central coastal provinces that recently recorded an unusual massive fish death along the coast were tested and have met the national quality standards, the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQUAD) announced yesterday.

All samples of salt products taken from central coastal provinces that recently recorded an unusual massive fish death along the coast were tested and have met the national quality standards.

After the massive fish death was reported in some localities last month, NAFIQUAD asked its sub-departments in central provinces to take salt samples for testing to check the level of heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury in the salt.

The tests showed that the levels of heavy metals in salt in Ha Tinh, where the massive fish deaths occurred, and in Nghe An, Khanh Hoa and Ninh Thuan, which are all close localities, were within the allowed levels of metal contamination for food.

NAFIQUAN director Nguyen Nhu Tiep said that in Ha Tinh Province, for example, all three samples of salt taken from key salt production areas were tested to meet food safety requirements.

Earlier this month, a test also revealed that nearly 140 samples of seafood, vegetables and water in the four central coastal provinces that suffered mass fish deaths have been determined to be safe and within the prescribed safety levels, according to a report by the Food Safety Department under the Ministry of Health.

The department, in co-ordination with the National Food Safety and Hygiene Testing Institute, sent inspection teams to the four provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue to take samples of seafood, vegetables and water for quality inspection.

The mass fish deaths reported in central Vietnam since the beginning of April damaged the economy, the environment, farming and production, as well as seafood trading activities, causing many worries for local people.

After the incident, ministries, relevant agencies and local authorities have implemented several inspections to determine the cause of the mass fish death and to guide locals on how to repair the damage, resume production and stabilise their lives.

VNS