Thực trạng sử dụng hàn the ở một số nhóm thực phẩm và kiến thức, thực hành của người chế biến về sử dụng hàn the tại tỉnh Bạc Liêu năm 2011

A cross sectional study was conducted to describe the situation of borax utilization at food stores in 6 districts of Bac Lieu province. 276 food samples which have high risk of borax abuse were tested and 174 food processers were interviewed about knowledge and practice of borax utilization. The result showed that 9.4 percent food samples were borax positive, and highest borax positive rate were observed in Vietnamese sausage (gio cha) samples. The knowlege and practice of food processers were very poor. Only 56.9 percent processers answered that borax is hamful for health, 40.2 percent knew other non- toxic additive substances can replace the borax; 16.7 percent food store owners reported that borax has been used in food processing, in which 69.0 percent reported having used it more than 2 times.