MARGAO: With consumers questioning the checks on consignments of seafood arriving in Goa via the railways, the Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) issued a statement stating that its South Goa FDA officials carried out a surveillance inspection recently from 4 pm till 3 am, on fish arriving at the Margao Railway station.
The FDA said that the fish arrives on several trains from Western and Eastern states in insulated thermocol boxes, which are then loaded onto local vehicles for further distribution. One such vehicle was intercepted at 5.15 pm outside the railway jurisdiction. The documents were verified and it was observed that the stock was ordered by a vendor attached to the wholesale fish market at Margao.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
FDA explained that the vendor was summoned for an enquiry. The vendor narrated that this consignment is picked from Margao station and transported to their insulated vehicles, which are then allowed to enter the wholesale market from 10 pm onwards. The vendor also produced the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence for the transportation and wholesale of fish.
“The Quality Council of India (QCI) Lab carries out testing of the stock loaded on all such vehicles and after reports are issued to these vendors by QCI, the stock is sold in the market. This process explained by the vendor was verified by the team and cross-checked with the QCI team as well,” said FDA.
“Hence, it is clear that stock unloaded at the Margao railway station is mainly intended for sale at the wholesale market and undergoes checks at the QCI lab located at the market,” FDA added.
“The boxes were opened at random to check for cold chain compliance. It was observed that adequate ice was used to preserve the fish,” the statement said.
