The incident came to light when the truck carrying the fish broke down in Vadakara.
The Food Safety Department authorities in Kerala, on Friday, seized a whopping 6000 kg of fish laced with the toxic chemical formalin in Vadakara.
The incident came to light when the truck carrying the fish from Kannur to Kozhikode broke down in Kottakadavu near Vadakara, according to a Manorama report.
The Motor Vehicles Department inspected the truck’s contents when the officials realised that a bad odour was emanating from the truck. On checking, the fish was discovered and a formalin test was done, which revealed that it was contaminated.
“When the tests are done on field and the results are immediate, then the perpetrators can’t escape. This is why it is easy to use the testing strips as once you rub it on the fish and wait, the colour on the strip will reveal the level of toxic formaldehyde in the sample. This can be checked with the chart supplied with the kit,” says Sainuddin, principal scientist at Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) which supplies kits to different agencies to check for formalin levels in fish.
According to reports, the load consisting of cod fish and king fish came from Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and arrived in Kozhikode. It was set to be distributed in a market in Kannur. However, the lot was rejected by the market and the truck was sent back to Kozhikode.
Authorities at the Food Safety Department have confirmed that they would send the load back to where it came from without distributing it to the public.
Over the last two months, several cases of contaminated fish being seized in different parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra have surfaced. Authorities are taking strict measures to curb the use of formaldehyde in fish to preserve them for longer.