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| Consumers choose Saigon Co.op's Jasmine 100 safe rice at Co.opmart Ly Thuong Kiet in HCM City. — VNS Photo |
HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Last weekend a new product appeared in the Vietnamese rice market - Jasmine 100 rice grown without chemical fertilisers or plant protection drugs and not infused with artificial flavours.
Its outstanding safety features will safeguard consumers' health and the environment.
Jasmine 100 rice meets VietGAP standards featuring six safety criteria that top consumers' concerns now:
Firstly, it is grown without the use of chemical fertilisers, only 100 per cent high-quality organic fertilisers imported from the US are used.
Secondly, it is not mixed with other rice varieties and is 100 per cent Jasmine rice.
Thirdly, no preservatives and food additives are used.
Fourthly, it contains no plant protection residues
Fifthly, its flavour is completely natural and not artificially infused by using ther substances.
Sixthly, its origins are easy to trace.
The rice is white-grained, fewer grains are broken, and it is soft and sweet and fragrant to eat. Currently the high-quality Jasmine 100 rice is distributed exclusively at Co.opmart and Co.opXtra supermarkets in HCM City at a price of VND58,000 (US$2.6) for a two-kilogramme pack.
The rice is produced under the Saigon Co.op Agricultural Project, for which Saigon Co.op co-operates with farmers in Vinh Long Province. Prof Vo Tong Xuan is the consultant for the project, which is closely supervised by the GAP Agriculture Company's agricultural extension staff and scientific institutes.
Thus, the quality of the rice is safeguarded at every stage from seedling selection and cultivation to harvesting, packaging and preservation.
Pham Trung Kien, deputy general director of Saigon Co.op, said besides ensuring safety and nutrition, the use of 100 per cent organic fertilisers imported from the US for growing the rice is expected to help change farming habits, protect the environment, sustain natural-born pest killers, improve soil, protect surface water and groundwater, protect rural life and develop agriculture sustainably. — VNS