No longer a luxury item, king prawns have become a staple on our supermarket fish counters - but at what price? Alex Renton reports from Vietnam


Huong Duc Bam feeds his prawns on his farm in Tra Ving. He lives with his wife and daughter in small shed next to their ponds in Tra Vinh Province in the Mekong Deltaan area which has been made rich by prawn farming. Photograph: Abbie Trayler-Smith

The following correction was printed in the Observer's For the record column, Sunday September 28 2008

The article below was accompanied by the panel: 'Prawn cocktail: The chemicals used in one Vietnamese prawn pond'. The substances listed were from research into chemical traces found in prawns around the world, not just in Vietnam. Two of those listed, chloramphenicol and nitrofurans, are banned in Vietnam.

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