STORY OF KHAI HOAN

The lazy clouds drift aimlessly amidst the sunset, drawing the bustling scenery of the Phu Quoc fishing village back into the serene night. The fishing boats shudder and move, lining up to set sail. One boat follows another, creating a long streak across the sea. This seems to be a symbolic painting of the soul of Phu Quoc – a place known as the pearl island of Vietnam.

From the love of the sea and islands…

Entering into the trade of making fish sauce with her enduring love of the islands, forests, and sea, Ms. Tran Thi Ba is the one who ignited the fire of passion and passed on to future generations the value of preserving traditional trades. From here, the dream of a quality traditional fish sauce brand, carrying the quintessence of Phu Quoc pearl island and the traditional values of the forefathers slowly was slowly coming to life.

… to a traditional fish sauce brand carrying immense cultural values

Relentlessly researching and investing resources and dedication to find the best production methods, from a small barrel house, today, Khai Hoan Trading Joint Stock Company has undertaken a journey of over 40 years of formation and development, becoming the leading producer of the traditional fish sauce bearing the geographical indication “Phu Quoc” and obtaining Vietnamese and international certifications.

KHAI HOAN KEY MILESTONES

1975: Establishment of Khai Hoan Seafood Private Enterprise

From a small production facility, Mrs. Tran Thi Ba established the Khai Hoan Seafood Private Enterprise with a scale of 12 fermentation tanks, producing 72,000 liters of fish sauce per year.

1986: Have the first showroom

Ms. Ho Kim Lien took over the business, built a showroom, and sold products at the factory.

2007: Established the Khai Hoan Trading Joint Stock Company

Khai Hoan Trading Joint Stock Company was established with dedication and a serious attitude toward the trade of the siblings in the family, who maintained, preserved, and developed the traditional trade.

2015: The system of 26 fishing boats

Khai Hoan invested in a system of fishing boats to exploit anchovies for production with 26 large and small boats.

2018: Building an automatic filling production line system

Khai Hoan continued to invest in building a semi-automatic fish sauce filling line with a capacity of 9,000 bottles/hour. At the same time, Khai Hoan built and inaugurated a supermarket chain for tourists on Phu Quoc Island.

2022: Leading the fish sauce production market at Phu Quoc

Became a traditional fish sauce producer with leading output in Phu Quoc island, producing 5-6 million liters per year.

A CLOSED PROCESS FROM THE SEA TO THE TABLE...

Cultivated by the love of the sea, Khai Hoan has successfully realized the closed exploitation – preservation – transportation – fermentation process, bringing clean raw materials from the sea to the consumer’s table; keeping the freshness intact, and ensuring the protein, color, and characteristic savory flavor.

CATCHING PHU QUOC BLACK ANCHOVIES & SALTING THEM ON KHAI HOAN FISHING BOAT

Catches of freshly caught anchovies are brought aboard, quickly going through the process of washing, removing impurities and selection, resulting in pure anchovies as raw materials.

Then, the raw anchovies are mixed with salt in a ratio of 3 parts fish to 1 part salt right on board to maintain freshness. The anchovies and salt mixture is preserved in the fish hold, the hatch is tightly closed, and the juice called “nuoc boi” is removed from the bottom of the hold.

NATURAL FERMENTATITON IN WOODEN BARRELS FORM 12-15 MONTHS

The salted fish mixture is unloaded from the ship’s hold and transferred to the wooden barrels that have been thoroughly cleaned to preserve the original flavor and color of the fish sauce. The fish is naturally fermented for an average of 12-15 months without using any catalysts to produce the characteristic and flavorful fish sauce.

With a scale of over 900 fermentation barrels located in 3 workshops covering more than 28,000m2, Khai Hoan has become the largest barrel house on Phu Quoc Island.

CONSTANTLY CONTROLLING FISH SAUCE QUALITY

Going through the fermentation process until the anchovies and salt mixture called “chuop” is ripe, the draining process to obtain the first press fish sauce “nuoc mam cot” begins. This process is known as extracting second-grade fish sauce “nuoc mam long”: open the spigot to let the fish sauce drip down slowly, then pour it back into the barrel and repeat several times until the fish sauce is clear. Throughout the process, Khai Hoan constantly checks and tests the finished fish sauce to achieve the standard protein and quality.

PACKING FINISHED PRODUCTS PACKED AND DISTRIBUTION TO CUSTOMERS

The first drops of the original fish sauce are bottled and delivered to consumers. During the bottling process, the containers are sterilized by UV rays and the bottles are sealed with an automatic production line to ensure food safety and hygiene. The bottle caps are also researched and imported from Japan by Khai Hoan to extend the preservation time, ensure the quality of fish sauce, and maintain the integrity of the product during transportation.

QUALITY CERTIFICATION

Proud to be the leading traditional fish sauce producer with quality products obtaining Vietnamese and international certifications.

AFT stands for “The Alliance for Food Safety and Transparency”, which is a non-profit, voluntary, and professional social organization of organizations and individuals operating in the field related to food.

AFT Certificate

Phu Quoc fish sauce has been granted a national geographical indication protection certificate by the Intellectual Property Office, Ministry of Science and Technology in 2001.

CDDL Certificate

The standards for obtaining FDA certification for each type of product are:

Compliance with FDA regulations
Canned food with low acid content Information on the food label regarding health, composition, and function
GRAS evaluation (certification of safety)

FDA Certificate

The international standard for quality management system in the production and processing of food by businesses, based on controlling the limits of hazards at critical points.

HACCP Certificate

The product must not contain any ingredients prohibited by Islamic law (LHG); the product must not come into contact with any equipment or devices made of materials prohibited by LHG during the production process…

HALAL Certificate

The Vietnamese Association of Fish Sauce (VAFS) sets criteria for members to meet such as minimum protein content, limits on the use of additives, etc. to ensure the “traditional” nature of fish sauce. Businesses that meet the standards will be granted the VAFS logo, and those who produce counterfeit fish sauce will have their logo revoked.

NMTT - Certificate for member

On July 19th, 2021, Khai Hoan Trading Joint Stock Company was officially granted the ISO 22000:2018 certification.

ISO Certificate

The OCOP program is a solution to promote rural economic development and unlock the potential of each locality. The focus of this program is to develop prominent agricultural and non-agricultural products and services in each locality.

OCOP-40ºN Certificate

OCOP-43ºN Certificate

Khải Hoàn fish sauce has been officially recognized as a high-quality Vietnamese product when it was granted the VNCLC certificate.

VNCLC Certificate

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