Goa BJP MLA suggests to invent ‘test strip’ to check formalin in fish

Panaji, Aug 10

To get rid of fish laced with formalin, a carcinogenic cadaver preservative, Goa BJP MLA Rodolfo Fernandes on Thursday suggested inventing a testing strip to check fish quality for public usage and make it available in the pharmacies.

“We should leave it (testing) on the people. Like a litmus paper strip, a testing strip should be invented and made available in the pharmacies to check formalin in fish. If people have doubt, let them check.

"Even if it is checked at a check-post, agents may lace fish with formalin (after entering the state). It is a serious issue concerning public health. People's safety is important,” Fernandes said in the Assembly.

Replying to him, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said that the government will consider the suggestion.

In a raid carried out at a South Goa fish market in July 2018, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) team had found traces of formalin in fish being sold there.

Later, the state government had banned import of fish from neighbouring states, until the fish traders got registered with the state FDA and complied with its norms related to storage and transportation of fish.

Fish is a staple diet consumed by a majority of the population in the coastal state, as well as the scores of tourists who visit Goa every year.

AAP MLA Venzy Viegas also raised the issue of fish testing centres, to which the Health Minister said that the labs at the check-posts are not operated by the FDA, but by the Quality Council of India (QCI), a Central government agency, on behalf of the FDA.