Sturgeons are sold at Metro supermarket in Hoang Mai District. Photo tienphong.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Ha Noi Market Watch will check on the origin of sturgeon being sold at the Metro supermarket with their suppliers, said deputy director Nguyen Cong San.

Questions were raised about the sources of the sturgeon a few days ago when Le Anh Duc, chairman of the Viet Nam Sturgeon Group, denounced the Metro supermarket for selling illegal fish.

He said that the Metro supermarket chain in the north imports between 50-70 tonnes of sturgeon every month, while production in this area is unlikely to exceed 30-40 tonnes. Duc also believes that in the official documents, the sturgeon that the Metro has on offer is said to have come from the northern province of Lao Cai, but the farmers there did not rear them.

On Tuesday, market watch officials checked sturgeon at two Metro supermarkets, in Hoang Mai and Tu Liem districts. The labelling said that the fish had come from Viet Nam and senior Metro officials were in possession of the documentation proving the origin of the fish.

According to a Metro representative, the enterprises that had supplied the fish were the Seaprodex Ha Noi/Hasimex Company and the Hieu Ngan Food Company.

Raising public awareness about choosing high-quality products with a proven origin of supply was important, but if no action was taken, domestic sturgeon farming would gradually disappear, which would affect thousands of workers.

The Viet Nam Sturgeon Corporation has estimated that up to 15 tonnes of the fish are brought into Viet Nam every day, equivalent to 5,000 tonnes a year, without being authorised.

This is the second time this year that a foreign invested supermarket chain has been pulled up for infringements. In April, the Big C supermarket in Tu Liem District was discovered selling green grapes from Ninh Thuan province, but with a Chinese flag on the label.— VNS