Formalin in fish: Cuttack Municipal Corporation continues raids

CUTTACK: Even as the samples of fish collected from different markets in Cuttack tested negative for cancer causing chemical ' Formalin', the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) continued its raids on the fish godowns in the city on Wednesday also.
To ensure that the harmful chemical laced fish are sold nowhere in the city, a team of health and food safety inspectors conducted raids at fish markets in Press Chhak and Mahanadi Vihar here.
Along with fish shops, the team conducted surprise raids on the big fish godowns located at Press Chhak and collected samples of different varieties of fishes. The teams collected samples of fishes from the trucks while the stock was being unloaded to the godowns.
“The fish traders in Cuttack mainly procure fish from Andhra Pradesh. We collected samples directly from the trucks that came from Andhra Pradesh with consignment of fish. Besides, we also collected samples from the godowns and the retail fish markets,” said an official of the team.
The samples collected will be sent to food testing laboratory in Bhubaneswar to check if there was presence of Formalin or any harmful chemical in it.
The CMC commissioner Bikash Mohapatra said such raids would continue in the city for the time being. He also assured that there was nothing to worry as the fish samples, which were collected on Monday from different places of Cuttack, had tested negative for Formalin.
“There is no need to panic as the eight samples that were sent for testing to Bhubaneswar have tested negative for Formalin. Besides, we are creating awareness among big fish traders to check the quality of fish consignment before bringing it to the city,” said Mohapatra.
“The raids on fish shops and godowns will be conducted on a regular basis in the city to keep a tab on the quality of fish sold in the market,” added Mohapatra. According to sources, there are about 40 fish godowns in the city.
Meanwhile, the fish traders also have heaved a sigh of relief as no traces of Formalin was found in the fish samples collected in the first phase on Monday. “Business has obviously been affected after the Formalin episode. But now we are relieved as authorities have not found Formalin in fish samples in Cuttack,” said A K Sahoo, a fish trader.