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Seasoning maker goes from rags to riches
vietnamnews.vn ^

Posted on 04/14/2013 11:51:34 AM PDT by tsowellfan

A previously poor man who built up his seasoning business from scratch is now helping those less fortunate. Tran Trong Trung reports

Sixty-four-year-old Huynh Van Be is well known across the southern province of Dong Thap for his famous seasoning.

He was the pioneer who brought white salt from coastal regions to Dong Thap to process, and set up the successful "Ngoc Yen" brand name in his home town of Thanh B́nh.

The main ingredients for processing his seasoning are sea salt, sugar, garlic, chilli and monosodium glutamate.

His delicious seasoning has been praised by many consumers, particularly when sprinkled over fruit.

Each year, his company sells hundreds of tonnes of seasoning, earning a profit of more than VND1 billion (about US$47,600).

He has recently invested over VND700 million to expand and upgrade his processing plant and equip it with modern machinery to improve quality and increase production to more than 1.2 tonnes per day.

But it wasn't all plain sailing. Be and his family went through years of hardship struggling with the ups and downs of life, and even faced bankruptcy at one point.

"I found myself in this job by chance," he recalls. "In 1998, I tried my hand at raising quails, but I was inexperienced and ended up losing 5,000 birds. That left me with a debt of over VND200 million so we had to sell the house.

"We were on our last legs when my sister in Tay Ninh Province called and suggested I go and make seasoning with her."

While Be worked with his sister and gradually learned the trade, his wife and child took the streets of HCM City to sell the seasoning. Sometimes they were chased away by locals who felt they were intruding and splashed water on the seasoning, leaving the mother and daughter in tears.

But Be refused to give in and promised himself that one day, he would be a success.

He looked for ways to improve the quality of the seasoning, and finally settled on a recipe.

"The only way my product was going to survive was if it was better than the competition. Only then would I find the customers I needed to expand."

Gradually, shops, groceries and fruit markets began to stock his products.

"My wife delivered a dozen kilos a day and at last we felt so happy."

Many stores began to buy in bulk, and it wasn't long before Be's seasoning was available for wholesale in HCM City markets.

After six years of efforts to develop the business in Tay Ninh and HCM City, he decided he had accumulated enough capital and experience to return home and open a plant in Dong Thap.

In 2006, Be opened his own processing facility and named it Ngoc Yen, and started the website www.muoisayngocyen.vn. Since then, their lives have turned a new page.

At first, they produced 30-50kg of seasoning each day.

They then expanded production, equipping the plant with modern equipment such as stainless steel ovens, mixers and 10 exposure frames in accordance with Ministry of Health's standards.

His seasoning has been recognised by the Viet Nam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) as a "Vietnamese product of high quality".

"Over the last five years, production has grown from 40 tonnes in 2007 to 400 tonnes last year. Obviously, the quality and value for money win over customers. I'm very excited because I didn't expect it would be so successful," he says.

His plant now employs 25 local workers, with monthly incomes between VND3.6-5 million each.

Be received the Golden Lotus Cup from VUSTA which voted it the "famous domestic and international brand name" in August 2011.

In September last year, the Viet Nam Food Science and Technology Association and the Viet Nam Food Standards Commission bestowed the title "Vietnamese food for Vietnamese health" on Ngoc Yen seasoning.

Be was granted awards from the Viet Nam Farmers Association, the Viet Nam Business Association and the Dong Thap People's Committee.

Now Be has secured a future for his family, he undertakes a lot of charitable work, spending hundreds of millions of dong each year on social housing and local infrastructure, while taking the time to visit, share and encourage those less fortunate than him.

He has so far contributed over a billion dong to help the poor of Thanh B́nh.

Be is currently collaborating with local donors and leaders of Tran Van Nang High School and Thanh B́nh 1 High School to provide free meals for poor students in the two schools.

"As I have suffered from poverty and hardship, I understand others misery. I am 64 years old now, and if I wait until I become richer to help them, how long will that take? I try to help them based on my ability. I've been doing this work for about five years, and we spent a record VND200 million last year. This year I will spend more."

Provincial People's Committee Chairman Le Minh Hoan commented: "From a poor peasant, with a lot of energy and a strong spirit, he has built a reputable establishment, creating a brand name in the market and jobs for local workers.

"Be is one of the most beautiful lotuses in our Dong Thap – the land of lotus!"

Hoan says Be has proved that anyone, if there is a will, can be a success. — VNS


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: capitalism; msg; seasoning; vietnam
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To: Pontiac
Communism isn’t what it used to be.

Nope. *sigh* Neither is American "capitalism"...

41 posted on 04/14/2013 1:47:10 PM PDT by null and void (Republicans create the tools of oppression and Democrats use them. Gun confiscation enables tyranny.)
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To: Jyotishi

mono-sodium glutamate is just the sodium salt of glutamate
It dissociates near instantaneously in aqueous solution

42 posted on 04/14/2013 1:52:40 PM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: Yaelle

Doubtless there will be someone along shortly to tell you you are wrong, not to believe your own experience, that MSG is utterly harmless, just like aspartame...


43 posted on 04/14/2013 1:59:34 PM PDT by null and void (Republicans create the tools of oppression and Democrats use them. Gun confiscation enables tyranny.)
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To: HangnJudge

Yet many studies show MSG to be harmful — one of many citations:

Endocrinology. 1984 Jul;115(1):267-72.

Increased responsiveness of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis after neurotoxin-induced hypothalamic denervation.

Spinedi E, Johnston C, Negro-Vilar A.

Abstract

Neonatal treatment with monosodium glutamate (MSG) induces severe neuronal damage in selected brain areas, which in turn results in a number of neuroendocrine abnormalities during adult life. The present study was designed to determine what effects this partial and selective denervation of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis may have on the sensitivity of two key components of that axis, the median eminence (ME) and the anterior pituitary (AP). In order to test any changes in response that may occur after MSG treatment, the release of several peptide hormones from either the ME or the AP was evaluated in vitro, employing specific or general secretagogues....

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6145582


44 posted on 04/14/2013 2:08:23 PM PDT by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: Yaelle

See my post #25. It doesn’t bother everyone at least not so that they notice but it does bother some of us a lot!


45 posted on 04/14/2013 2:20:49 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: null and void

My thoughts as well.

It is sad that we have come this isn’t it?


46 posted on 04/14/2013 2:31:22 PM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: tsowellfan

He didn’t build that.

Elizabeth Warren did.


47 posted on 04/14/2013 2:32:48 PM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas
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To: Jyotishi
A wide array of agents dysfunctionally modulate the Hypothalamic-Pitutary-Adrenal Axis
Many on this site would get their panties in a twist if a few of them were banned were banned

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016561471000074X

Addictive drugs (opiates, ethanol, cannabinoids (CBs), nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines) induce activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, with the subsequent release of adrenocorticotropic hormone and glucocorticoids. The sequence of events leading to HPA activation appears to start within the brain, suggesting that activation is not secondary to peripheral homeostatic alterations. The precise neurochemical mechanisms and brain pathways involved are markedly dependent on the particular drug, although it is assumed that information eventually converges into the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Whereas some drugs may act on the hypothalamus or directly within PVN neurons (i.e. ethanol), others exert their primary action outside the PVN (i.e. CBs, nicotine, cocaine). Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) has a critical role in most cases, but the changes in c-fos and CRH gene expression in the PVN also reveal differences among drugs. More studies are needed to understand how addictive drugs act on this important neuroendocrine system and their functional consequences.

48 posted on 04/14/2013 3:04:50 PM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: Jyotishi
Yet many studies show MSG to be harmful

Rat model,
I suspect the dosage applied was well above common exposures
But I will think on this

49 posted on 04/14/2013 3:08:51 PM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: tsowellfan

Found this about the exchange rate of the dong;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_dong


50 posted on 04/14/2013 3:11:19 PM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult (Liberals make unrealistic demands on reality and reality doesn't oblige them.)
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To: HangnJudge

> But I will think on this

As will I. And here’s more food for thought:

Understanding brain damage and endocrine disorders caused by MSG

http://www.truthinlabeling.org/Dang.html


51 posted on 04/14/2013 3:17:35 PM PDT by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: tsowellfan

Hell, anyone could get rich sellin spices over there.


52 posted on 04/14/2013 8:00:43 PM PDT by SgtHooper (The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.)
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To: Yaelle
He’s selling neurotoxic MSG, which makes people crave the next bite. I like his success story but he’s selling poison.

What's really needed over there is someone like OUR Bloomberg.

53 posted on 04/14/2013 8:18:53 PM PDT by tsowellfan (www.cafenetamerica.com)
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To: null and void

Doubtless there will be someone along shortly to tell you you are wrong, not to believe your own experience, that MSG is utterly harmless, just like aspartame...


“Conservatives” who extol over feedlot beef and chemical additives in food are the same as beltway Rinos. Unquestioning statists. Real conservatives want food freedom and truth as well as political. Don’t pee on my leg and call it rain. It’s poison, not “spice.” It’s neurotoxin, not “better than sugar.”


54 posted on 04/15/2013 9:57:03 AM PDT by Yaelle
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