Are strawberries really a berry?
Despite its name, the strawberry isn’t a true berry. The same can be said for the raspberry and the blackberry. But take this, the banana is a berry, scientifically speaking, eggplants, grapes and oranges are also berries – confused? For the sake of good order we will continue to refer to our strawberries as berries.
You might be thinking what are they, if not berries? Strawberries derive from a single flower with more than one ovary which makes them an aggregate fruit.
Having done page after page of extensive testing of our strawberries, we are thrilled to be introducing all-natural and clean to eat strawberries grown locally here in Vietnam.
Strawberries are the perfect fruit to satisfy sweet cravings – they are deliciously tasteful and an excellent source of vitamin D and manganese. You will also find decent amounts of folate and potassium. With consistent levels of 2-11 times the amount of phenolic antioxidants, strawberries are ranked among the top source of phenolic antioxidants.
Strawberries are difficult to farm on a larger scale without the use of pesticides, but it is possible and when done right, as in the case with our strawberries, you can taste the difference. Da Lat is really one of the only places to grow strawberries in Vietnam, the temperature and conditions are just right.
Non organically farmed strawberries are one of the fruits containing the most pesticides, it is often (if not always) to be found on your Dirty Dozen list of fruits and vegetables you should be particularly concerned about buying strawberries free from pesticides.
Our promise to you, not just for strawberries, but all our products is to make sure we source the best quality and we have a 0 tolerance for pesticide usage. It is a jungle out there, and difficult to know who to trust. We came across this article referenced and shared below about how strawberries from China find their way into Vietnam to be sold as locally grown.
10 metric tons is equal to 10.000 kg. According to Tuoi Tre News, this is also the amount of strawberries arrived from China, to be sold in Vietnam, in approximately one week (this July). Importing strawberries to be sold here is not necessarily a bad thing, but if they are full of pesticides and not imported with the proper import certifications, then that is serious. According to the Tuoi Tre news article below, the 10.000 kg strawberries were all in excess of the government regulated pesticide residue limits.
Chinese strawberries found with excessive pesticide residues in Vietnam’s Central Highlands
Functional forces in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong have seized two metric tons of strawberries originating from China with an amount of pesticide residues three times higher than the allowable limit.
The strawberries were found on a truck on its way to Lam Dong’s capital city of Da Lat on July 24.
P.T.S., a 29-year-old man from Ho Chi Minh City, claimed to be the owner of the strawberries, saying he had bought them for VND50,000-60,000 (US$2.16-2.59) per kilogram from a connection on social media.
However, invoices and documents produced by S. showed the consignment’s owner is Nguyen Thi Nhung and the cargo was part of ten metric tons of strawberries imported to Vietnam through a border gate in the northern province of Lao Cai on July 2 at a dirt-cheap price of VND5,000 ($0.22) per kilogram.
According to the documents, the strawberries, packaged in 123 foam boxes, were transported by air from Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City before being trucked to Lam Dong.
The documents also included required phytosanitary certificates.
The only strange thing was that the strawberries and their leaves were fresh as if they had just been picked despite the 22-day transportation.
The functional forces thus took them for pesticide residue analysis, the results of which showed that there were 0.063 milligrams of Abamectin, an active ingredient in pesticides, per kilogram of the strawberries, three times higher than the allowable limit in Vietnam.
Abamectin is jointly evaluated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to be toxic with an acceptable daily intake of 0-0.002 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.
Since July 22, police in Lam Dong have seized more than ten metric tons of strawberries imported from China to Da Lat by road and by air.
Initial verification showed all these consignments had violated import procedures and the pesticide residue limit, according to the police.
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