The Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) uses the cell alive system (CAS) and the Japanese advanced technology to preserve farm produce, but provincial authorities know nothing about the technology and farmers continue throwing fruit away.

MST Minister Nguyen Quan revealed during a TV news program in June 2014 that 10 tons of Luc Ngan litchis shipped to Japan will be preserved with CAS, a modern technology transferred by Japan.

The information excited Vietnamese farmers. They usually have to throw farm produce away when they have bumper crops because of oversupply, while they cannot preserve the produce for a long time to sell for better prices.

This was the second time Quan mentioned the preservation technology. The first time was a year before, in June 2013, when he said Vietnam planned to spend $1 million on utilizing the advanced technology.

Dr. Tran Ngoc Lan, an MST’s senior official, said CAS is a line of commercial freezers that preserve food with greater freshness than ordinary freezing by using electromagnetic fields and mechanical vibrations to limit ice crystal formation that destroys food texture.

Lan once headed a delegation of MST’s officials on a working visit to Japan to learn about the technology in August 2013.

According to Lan, CAS is now the most advanced technology in the field of preserving farm and fishery produce.

CAS preserves farm produce for many years while still retaining the freshness and high quality. It has been used at many seafood, farm produce, cattle and poultry meat processing factories in many countries in the world.

MST is reported going ahead with a plan to build up a CAS to preserve tuna in Phu Yen province. Meanwhile, over 10 tons of Luc Ngan litchis preserved with CAS technology have been exported to Japan in a pilot program.

The success with litchis has prompted scientists to utilize CAS on dragonfruit as well. “The experiments began last year,” he said. “Litchis can be preserved for six months at least.”

However, despite the satisfactory success reported by scientists, the advanced technology still has not been used.

Lan said that the technology is ready to be applied at enterprises. Regarding the technology application cost, Lan said this would depend on the enterprises’ production scale. However, farmers still have to throw dragonfruit away, because even cows also reject the fruit.

Nguyen Ngoc Hung, deputy director of the Binh Thuan provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, when asked about the methods to preserve dragonfruit, said collectors have to put the fruit in cold storage. At the temperature of 5oC, dragonfruit can be preserved for 25-30 days.

However, Hung said he had never heard about CAS.