Panaji: The use of the cancer-causing chemical, formalin, to preserve fish in exports from Goa had surfaced in Kerala four years ago, after an advocate filed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking compliance of food safety rules. A report submitted before the Kerala high court in January 2014 in connection with the PIL filed by join food safety commissioner K Anil Kumar, had stated that some samples of fish analysed to verify if formalin had been used as a preservative, had tested positive. Advocate A G Basil had filed the PIL alleging malpractices in the food industry and had prayed for a direction to ensure that the food sold adhered to provisions of the Food Safety Act and Rules.
Formalin had been found in the fish brought into Kerala from Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, and the governments of the coastal states had been informed, the court was told. But, the Goa food and drugs administration (FDA) had responded to the issue by stating that analysis of some samples had proven negative. “We had taken some samples, but found nothing in the fish samples,” an FDA official had said.
Subsequently, a couple of years ago, the FDA had done more analyses but did not find formalin in the samples, sources said.
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