Why buy Naturally Vietnam products?As more and more pressure is being placed on Vietnamese farmers to produce meat, eggs etc. at low cost to compete with imports, food safety is not always comes a priority. As a result, consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about what they eat, and particularly what their children eat. Food safety hazards range from microbial contamination to the presence of chemical residues and represent potential health risks both immediately after eating the products and in the longer-term.The Naturally Vietnam approach allows Vietnamese farmers to produce safe and tasty meat and eggs while preserving the environment and their incomes and ensures consumers know what they are eating while preserving their wallet. What makes it safe for consumers?When eating poultry meat in Vietnam, there are two main health risks for consumers.One is linked with microbial contamination of the meat: good hygiene at the slaughtering stage and strict cold chain are key to limiting this risk. It also requires that the poultry that are slaughtered are disease-free and healthy: good farming practices and supervision by veterinarians are key to ensure this. (Even if the risk has decreased in Vietnam, consumers still worry about avian influenza.) The second major risk is the presence of high levels of chemical residues in the meat (hormones, antibiotic etc.). Absorbing these chemicals every day albeit in small quantities has a long-term impact on our health. It is also one of the reasons for antibiotic resistance developing. Because we work with professional and ethical animal nutritionists and veterinarians and because of the low density of poultry in the free-range farms, the Naturally Vietnam poultry products contain no residues of antibiotics or hormones! Expensive or Cheap?The Naturally Vietnam products are more expensive than poultry products coming from industrial farms simply because Naturally Vietnam animals are housed in much lower density with more space to move (the poultry spend more energy in moving around developing better, healthier and stronger muscle mass) and the breeds are slow-growing (Chickens from fast-growing breeds get slaughtered at around 40 days of age while chickens from slow-growing breeds get slaughtered at more than 80 days of age and that is why the meat is more mature and much tastier!). It takes more time, more work and more feed to produce one kilogram of Naturally Vietnam chicken compared to a fast-growing chicken.What also helps us to maintain a moderate price for consumers is the limited number of stakeholders involved: the slaughterhouses are owned and managed by the cooperatives themselves. The Naturally Vietnam products are cheaper than their equivalent in developed countries because of lower labor and infrastructure costs. |
