3 establishments discovered using borax to bleach banana flowers

On July 6, the Economic Police Department of Ho Chi Minh City Police said that the unit had just conducted an inspection and discovered 3 establishments that had soaked hundreds of kilograms of banana flowers with borax and bleach of unknown origin before selling them to the market in Ben Luc residential area, Binh Dong ward, District 8 (old).

specifically, on the evening of June 26, during an inspection at the facility owned by Mr. KL, the Working Group discovered that Mr. L. and 2 employees were soaking 59kg of banana flowers in 2 plastic barrels mixed with chemicals.

According to Mr. L., about a week before the inspection, he bought 10kg of borax to soak banana flowers at Kim Bien market, then used 7kg to soak banana flowers.

As for bleach powder, Mr. L. bought about 10kg at a store on Hong Bang Street and used it all up.

Similarly, at the facility owned by Mr. TL, the Inspection Team discovered that banana fibers were cut by machine from young banana flowers, then soaked in 200-liter plastic water tanks.

The barrel contains a white powder of unknown origin and expiry date, intended to remove latex and white banana stems.

Each batch of banana flowers, about 30kg, is soaked three times in water mixed with an unlabeled white powder before being sold on the market.

During an on-site inspection, the working group discovered that Mr. L. had soaked 90kg of banana flowers in 3 plastic barrels and 3kg of unlabeled white powder.

Mr. TL admitted that the facility he owns is not registered for business and has not been granted a food safety certificate by the authorities. The facility operates from about 7 pm the previous day to about 3 am the following morning.

Mr. L. bought 35kg of white powder in District 5 (old) on May 18 and has used up 32kg. The banana flowers were bought by Mr. L. from traders at 8,000 VND/kg, buying about 450kg per day.

After preliminary processing, there were about 220kg of finished banana flower fibers. Mr. L. gave them to his wife to sell at a warehouse in Binh Dien market at a price ranging from 20,000-30,000 VND/kg.

Meanwhile, at another location where Mr. NC was the legal representative, the Inspection Team discovered that company employees were soaking 60kg of shredded banana flowers in 2 50-liter plastic barrels mixed with chemicals (white bleaching powder named Sodium Metabisufite, alum, borax); At the same time, they discovered 3 nylon bags containing a fine white powder weighing 2kg (labeled Sodium Metabisufite on the outside), 1 unlabeled nylon bag containing powder suspected to be borax weighing 8.5kg and another nylon bag suspected to be alum weighing 10kg.

The inspection team temporarily seized 115.5 kg of banana flowers and a total of more than 16 kg of white crystals in powder and granular form. The Economic Police Department of Ho Chi Minh City Police is consolidating the records and handling the above 3 establishments according to the law./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/phat-hien-3-co-so-su-dung-han-the-de-tay-trang-hoa-chuoi-post1048186.vnp