The Food and Drugs Administration has gone for a change in strategy. With the checks at Patradevi and Pollem outposts not yielding any ‘positive’ results, the FDA has now decided to fall back on its old formula of random checks. However, the ghost of formalin-laced fish continues to haunt them with each passing day throwing up new challenges. The recent one being vehicles that parked inside the wholesale fish market in Margao overnight, holding on to the left-over fish for sale the next day. How safe is that?
It comes as a big surprise that while there’s a hue and cry over freshness of fish, outstation trucks are permitted to park overnight at the wholesale market with their stock of unsold fish. Officials at the SGPDA wholesale market need to answer how this is allowed even as everyone believes that business at the market closes by 9 am.
These trucks have exposed a gaping hole in our checks and balances that need to be put in place immediately. FDA must have a team stationed at the wholesale fish market to carry spot checks. There is no guarantee on the quality of fish being sold from these trucks since there are no checks, an area which has completely gone unnoticed. FDA needs to test fish not only from these vehicles, but also all the jeeps and mini-vans dotting the adjoining roads with left-over fish. Let’s not forget that this fish was in transit for days and there have been several instances where people complained over stale fish being sold at the markets.
Officials need to confabulate and come up with solutions. Turning these vehicles back to their home state with unsold fish would mean a huge loss for these agents, who will have no other option but to dispose the remainder of the fish. Allowing them to sell it the next day is fraught with risks of locals being sold stale fish. Worse is selling stale fish to Goans at a premium price.
While the action shifts from the check-posts to random checks, one ground reality remains unchanged: With a lack of manpower, the FDA continues to be ill-equipped to do justice to the job at hand. This is one reason why we hardly hear of raids on sweetmeat shops and food stalls which were a regular feature ahead of festivals like Ganesh Chathurti and Diwali.
It must be acknowledged that FDA, with the meagre resources at hand, has stretched itself fully while testing fish for formalin content. But with the area of operation being the entire State and the subject being food, FDA will always have a Herculean task at hand. It remains to be seen how they manage to win back the trust of the people which it lost after the July flip-flop.
