'Chemically fuelled' shrimp discovered in Vietnam

'Chemically fuelled' shrimp discovered in Vietnam

THUA THIEN-HUE, Vietnam - Police in central Thua Thien-Hue Province have discovered a trading ring that pumps chemicals into dead shrimp to make them appear fresh and increase their weight.

Following working visits on Sunday, local environment police caught workers red-handed at two facilities in the province's Thuan An Town pumping the shrimp full of a chemical substance using syringes. The facilities were run by local traders.

Traders in the ring bought dead shrimp from aquaculture farms and added the substance to them before providing the tainted shrimp to caterers of wedding parties in the area. The owners admitted to police that the injection of chemicals made the shrimp heavier and appear fresher.

They said the illegal activity has been underway for the last three years.

Police seized 150kg of dead shrimp, 202kg of chemicals, and 80 syringes for further investigation. They suspect the tainted shrimp are connected to several cases of food poisoning that arose in the area after wedding parties.

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