Formalin (formaldehyde in water) is a common adulterant in fish. Traders and suppliers use it to extend the storage life of fresh or chilled fish and artificially improve the sensory attributes. The two preceding sentences have been extracted from the guidance note uploaded by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on their website. The note, uploaded on July 16 following the nation-wide debate on fish and formalin, further states that ‘consumption of fish adulterated with formalin can cause health conditions such as abdominal discomfort, vomiting, renal injury, etc.’ And it goes still further to say, ‘Formaldehyde is not permitted for use in foods as per Food Safety and Standards Regulations 2011’.
This is what the Union government agency on food safety has to say about formalin in fish, and that being so, Goa cannot take the issue of formalin being used to preserve the fish imported from other States, lightly. People’s health being at stake, every precautionary measure to ensure that formalin is not used to preserve fish or any other food substance has to be taken. The major question that arises here is, since FSSAI unequivocally states that formalin is not permitted for use in foods, how does the Goa Food and Drugs Administration say that the formalin found in fish is within permissible limits?
FDA, which made public its report on the formalin test, states that the results of all samples were below colour intensity or 0.5 ppm (parts per million) of reference formaldehyde solution. It adds that as per the report published by Society of Fisheries Technologists (India), the concentration of formaldehyde in marine fish is found to be up to 2.95 ppm and hence the tested fish samples were found to contain free formaldehyde to be within permissible limits. FSSAI on the other hand states that as per the US Environmental Protection Agency the maximum daily dose reference (RfD) is 0.2 mg per kg of body weight, while the European Food Safety Authority recommends an oral exposure to formaldehyde as 100 mg per day, corresponding to 1.7 and 1.4 mg per Kg body weight. It says nothing about any Indian law governing this.
FSSAI calls formaldehyde a hazardous chemical, and as per its note, monitoring studies by the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) – Kochi have reported the presence of residues of chemicals in freshly-marketed fish, inter-state fish consignments and even in ice used during transportation.
It is during transportation that the fish we eat in Goa can get infected by formalin or other chemicals. Given that the fish Goa consumes, especially during the monsoon fishing ban period, comes by road from the east coast, the possibility of it being treated with chemicals for preservation cannot be ignored. It is therefore imperative that the special squad to check trucks carrying fish from the neighbouring States before they enter Goa, which the government announced on Tuesday, are formed at the earliest and deputed on the State borders to check the fish consignments. The early formation of these squads cannot be stressed more in light of the fact that residues of formalin have been found in fish in other States and consignments sent back.
Fisheries Minister Vinod Palyekar has now said that the government will ensure that good fish is made available to the people. That is all what the people of Goa want. When FSSAI admits that formalin is a common adulterant in fish, there is no ignoring the fact that the chemical is being used to preserve fish in the country. It therefore should now be the government’s mission to ensure that the ‘good fish’ sold in the markets of Goa is free of any added chemicals.
