What Phnomenon Reports About Borax and Formalin in Cambodian Food

Phnomenon, a blog covering Khmer food, restaurant reviews, and recipes from Phnom Penh, reported in a March 2011 post ("Now with extra borax!") that unacceptable levels of borax and formalin had been found in Cambodian food. The post relays findings from the crew at CEDAC (the Cambodian Centre for Study and Development in Agriculture), as reported by the Australia Network, and frames the issue as a consumer-safety problem affecting common everyday foods.

What the report says was found

According to the post, borax and formalin were detected in products including:

• Sausage
• Dry fish
• Seafood
• Noodles
• Meat balls

The post notes that borax is used as an all-purpose preservative and tenderiser, while formalin — described as a substance made of formaldehyde and water — is also used as a preservative for meat and fish.

The scale of the problem

Phnomenon cites Chek Sothahas, a specialist in chemistry and food from the Royal Academy of Cambodia, whose research found that between 41 and 80 per cent of food products in Cambodia contained dangerous substances.

The health risks described

The post lists a range of potential harms from borax exposure, from the "ever-popular nausea" through to complete kidney failure and death. Formalin is presented as a preservative used not only for meat and fish but also for human corpses — a detail the post uses to underline how inappropriate the substance is in food.

The consumer-responsibility argument

CEDAC's position, as relayed by Phnomenon, is that a union would enable consumers to demand better quality assurance measures for food products. Yang Saing Koma, director of the centre, says consumers should call on producers and businesses to take responsibility for the health of Cambodia.

What this tells you about Phnomenon's coverage

The post is representative of the blog's willingness to mix food writing with food-safety reporting: it takes a news item from the Australia Network, adds context on what borax and formalin are and why they are used, and closes with a consumer-advocacy angle rather than a recipe or review. If you are researching the blog's treatment of Cambodian food safety, this post is the key reference point — it is dated 18 March 2011 and filed under the blog's Meta category.