[Vietnamization, Takeo, Food] Formaldehyde Found in Prahok

Formaldehyde Found in Prahok

Khmer Times | 20 September 2016

Authorities in Takeo province carted away 183kg of formaldehyde-tainted prahok from four processing plants yesterday morning after complaints that Vietnamese fish was being used to produce the Cambodian culinary staple.
 

Residents in Traing district alerted officials to motorbikes laden with large fish arriving at a number of prahok factories, said district police chief Major Than Phal.
 

“We collected 183kg of prahok that we suspected to have harmful chemicals and we are waiting to hear the results of the test from the Camcontrol experts about what kind of chemical substance it contains,” he said, declining to comment where the fish originally came from.
 

“The operation followed a complaint from local people. Right now, we temporarily closed the locations until further decision from relevant authorities,” he added.
 

He said that officials from the provincial commerce department, Camcontrol and district police had visited six facilities in the district, discovering chemical contamination at four of them.
 

Por Leangkong, the chief of the Takeo provincial Camcontrol unit, confirmed that among the six locations raided, four were found to have used the harmful formaldehyde, a substance more typically used to preserve dead bodies and in building products.
 

“The four locations made prahok from big fish, which they confessed to have imported from Vietnam, while the other two made prahok from the smaller fish imported from other provinces like Pursat and Kampong Chhnang,” he said.
 

He said that producers were using these fish to produce prahok as local supplies of fish had run low.
 

He said that long-term exposure to eating low levels of formaldehyde included high blood pressure, dizziness and weakness.

So far no arrests had been made and authorizes plan to meet today to discuss what action to take.
 

Formaldehyde is a known carcinogenic, and has been linked to a number of food scandals, particularly across Asia, after being used to extend the shelf-life of various foods.
 

In 2007, it was discovered in noodles in Vietnam and in 2011 Indonesian authorities found widespread use of the chemical in food across the country. In 2012, fish exported from Pakistan was found to contain formaldehyde.