The Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in Goa on Friday said that there was no U-turn by the FDA with regards to tests conducted on fish in a raid on Thursday.
A statement from the FDA here said, they had received communication from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to furnish details of sampling of fish and detections of contaminants of fish with Formalin if Positive; by lab reports.
''Also keeping in mind the reports of banning of import of fish from Chennai by the State of Assam due to Formalin contamination, and to ensure that the fish received by our State from Chennai is free from contamination the FDA officials had visited wholesale fish market at Margao and fish Market at Panaji on July 12, 2018, to draw the fish samples,'' it said.
Spot tests carried out on the samples indicated presence of Aldehydes, which is a family of organic compounds which includes formaldehyde. Formaldehyde in its liquid form is known as formalin. Among all the aldehydes, formalin (formaldehyde) is carcinogenic, if consumed in excess.
To rule out the presence of added Formaldehyde in the fish samples same were subjected to detailed testing at FDA laboratory at Bambolim and the results were found to be within permissible limit.
Spot test carried out for detection of Aldehyde is only an indicative test and unless the confirmatory tests are carried out in the Laboratory to ascertain the presence of formalin quality, fish cannot be declared as positive for Formalin content.
It is to be noted that Marine fish naturally contains certain amount of Formalin. As per the report published by Society of Fisheries Technologists (India) the concentration of Formaldehyde in Marine fish is found to be varying between 2.38 to 2.95 mg/kg; fish/shellfish 0.33 to 16 mg/kg.etc.
The Scientific papers published in the International Journal of Fisheries and aquatic studies shows that freshly caught fishes contains presence of naturally occurring formaldehyde in the range of 1.45 mg/Kg to 2.6 mg/Kg. However, the concentration may vary depending upon the commodity, the geographical condition, the marine waters.
The Laboratory analysis performed on the fish samples drawn from Margao wholesale market and Panjim market showed the results on par with the naturally occurring concentration for the different fishes tested ruling out the possibility of added amount of formalin.
In the afternoon on July 12, 2018, two more samples of Verli (silver fish) and Mackerels were drawn by the FDA officials from Old Goa and these samples also showed positive for Aldehydes by the spot test however, upon laboratory analysis no added formalin was detected.
FDA Goa on Friday received the "CIFTest" Formaldehyde detection kit for fresh fish developed by ICAR Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Mastsyapuri, Cochin, and the above two samples were also tested by the kit and the same did not show presence of formalin.
The FDA would continue its drive to test the samples of fish for presence of formalin contamination to assure the public of Goa that the fish available in Goa was safe for public consumption.
The public were requested not to panic regarding the quality of fish available in the state, the statement added.
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