Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) - The Ministry of Health is conducting tests onseafood samples collected from the central provinces, which were affected bythe Formosa toxic spill, to determine if they are safe for consumption.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, Director of the ministry’s Food Safety Department, wasquoted by online newspaper Infonet as saying that the collection andtesting of fish samples from the provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Triand Thua Thien-Hue are underway.

Tests are being conducted after Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh last weekdemanded clear information on the safety of consuming deep-sea seafood, afterthe toxic spill by Hung Nghiep Formosa’s steel plant in Ha Tinh in April lastyear.

Information from the ministry is expected to help the Government determinewhether to lift the soft ban on catching deep-sea fish, which has impactedthousands of fishermen in the region for almost a year.

If the tests are clear, it will reassure consumers and help resolve the problemof low sale of seafood in the region’s markets.

Two months after the Formosa environmental disaster, in June last year, theministry announced that fish in the region’s waters was safe for consumption.However, days later, it issued a list of 154 deep-sea fish that could not beconsumed.

Unable to distinguish between deep-sea fish and others species, people from theregion stopped buying seafood.-VNA