A neat spread of marine fish without ice may not be a rare sight at the markets in hilly areas and rural interiors. But that means the quintessential red flag for any fisher as it is highly improbable to preserve the catch for the long hours needed to transport it from the coast. “If you spot fish without ice in places like Idukki or Wayanad, it simply means the catch is sprayed with formalin. Fish can stay fresh only for three to four hours and it takes longer for the stock to reach parts of districts that lack a coastline,” says Antony, fisher.
For newer chemicals
While the Food Safety department has seized huge volumes of contaminated fish as part of ‘Operation Matsya’, the inflow of stale stock continues forcing the officials to look for the presence of chemicals other than formaldehyde and ammonia. “Formalin is frequently added to harden fish and sell it as fresh catch. The rapid detection kits used by the department can identify the presence of only a couple of chemicals including ammonia, formalin and sodium benzoate. In order to verify if the vendors have switched to any new chemical we are sending around 20 samples to the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) in Ernakulam,” said an official.
