PANJIM: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Thursday informed the High Court (HC) of Bombay at Goa that a total of around 640-odd samples of fish have been examined till mid-February while assuring research on specific standards pertaining to naturally occurring formalin in fish will be completed by June 2020 followed by a report in August 2020.
Counsel Dattaprasad Lawande, appearing for FSSAI submitted that they will meet the deadline of examining around 1260 samples by March 2020.
“As on January 24, 2020, the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), Kochi has submitted the data of 443 samples of fish covering a total of 63 fish species. Till February 14, 2020, the count has gone up to around 640. We will meet the deadline to complete tests on overall 1260 samples by March 2020,” he informed the court.
The submission was made during the hearing of the PIL raising concern over the much-debatable issue of presence of formalin in fish in the State. In the last hearing on December 7, 2019 the court had directed FSSAI to file the progress report from time to time with regards to the fixation of standards of formaldehyde in fish.
Lawande further submitted a 30-page status report of the FSSAI, which mentioned that CIFT’s data was placed before the expert group, specifically constituted by FSSAI to look into the matter of formaldehyde in fish and fish products on January 24, 2020 to fix limits of naturally occurring formaldehyde in the 63 specifies.
“The working group after perusing the data found that the naturally occurring formaldehyde in different marine species varied from 0.06 to 7.0 mg per kg. Considering that the data was based on limited samples and was only for one season, the working group recommended to fix the limit into three groups – Group I (marine fishes) 8.0 mg per kg maximum, Group II (marine fishes) 4.0 mg per kg max and Group III (fresh water fishes) 4.0 mg per kg max,” an extract of the report states. The FSSAI also added that for fish and fisheries products not covered in Group I and Group II, the limit of naturally occurring formalin shall not be more than 100 mg per kg. The recommendations have been operationalised by FSSAI.
FSSAI had earlier last year fixed limits of formaldehyde in fish and fisheries products and issued a direction, which stated that the ad hoc limit of formaldehyde in food category of fish, including molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms, shall be 2mg/kg max for freshwater and 100mg/kg for brackish water/marine origin.
Meanwhile, the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA), has been asked to file an affidavit in connection with steps taken to improve the fish market at Margao. A reply, the HC has said, is sought by March 16 when the matter will be heard next.
