What is the truth about the quality and food safety and hygiene of Vietnamese tra and basa catfish?
Feeding environment: The water of the Mekong river cannot be as polluted as that of the Mississippi River in the USA. The water in the Mekong lower reaches has been strictly controlled by a national and international inspection network based on the commitment between the Mekong sub-regional countries and prestigious international organisations. Added to this, since 1999, the American Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has been regularly sent findings of such inspection reports on the quality of the water in Vietnams aqua-culture areas and the findings on the control of toxic residue in basa and tra catfish raised in Vietnam provided by the Centre for Fish Quality control and Maritime hygiene (NAFIQACEN). These reports show that the indicators on residue of heavy metals and fertiliser collected from 30 stations in the Mekong lower reaches are much lower than the international permissible level. Understandably, this region is still under developed and harmful fertilisers have long been
