QUICK RESPONSE FROM FISHERIES & FOOD SAFETY DEPARTMENT ,TAMILNADU :
" Fish samples in chennai test positive for formalin " . Indiscrete traders and marketers use cancer inducing chemicals to preserve fish illegally.
Thanks to the initiative of "THE HINDU " following the issue when Kerala refused to buy Fish from Tamilnadu following a scare that fish from T.N .showed presence of Formalin.
The quality of fish marketed anywhere big or small market has no standadisation of quality . Fish decays faster than other animal meat as it doesn't have fat layer .Particularly faster in summer months.
The fish caught on Trawler trips are stored in crushed ice for upto 7 days from the catch . Then it is off loaded and sold in the harbour . The ones who buy trawler loads are safe from this menace . But the common man who gets his supply of fish from various markets and street vendours are the ones exposed . Since the fish changes hands to main dealer to smaller and even smaller . Every time the fish taken out from ice the flesh starts to get decaying . Immagin multiple times . So some dealers when the catch is good or offtake is sluggish resort to this practice of injecting Formali into the fish to keep it preserved .No doubt it prevents the decay of the flesh [as laboratory specimens are preserved in this chemical], but the chemicalitself is a potential carcinogen for human . This goes into the human system when the fish is consumed.
The press release from the Government " NO FORMALIN IN FRESH FISH SAMPLES " comes as a boon for the fish eaters. This should not remain a one time announcement or a Token test . As the same traders may be tempted to repeat this when there is a glut in the market .
The fish consumer wouldn't like the fish to be included in the FSSAI licencing , as it is not fool proof for the chemical being used . IT WOULD BE ADVISABLE FOR THE FOOD SAFETY AND FISHERIES DEPARTMENT TO DO FREQUENT, SURPRISE, RANDOM CHECK TO PREVENT CANCER . more