the goan I network
CANACONA
It was past midnight on Friday when some local activists under the banner of Jagrut Canaconkars (JC) reached Polem to watch the FDA team stationed at the border in action.
The FDA was in the process of collecting fish samples from the several fish-laden vehicles entering the state.
The Jagrut Canaconkars even demanded the FDA team demonstrate how the tests to verify or negate the presence of formalin in fish were conducted and how the samples were picked from the vehicles.
While stating that proper assessment of the fish was not an easy task for the staff-crunched FDA team, the Jagrut Canaconkars, however, pointed out a few loopholes in the testing process.
“We noticed that FDA officials pick samples from the first or the second box or at the most from the third box in the truck, creating a huge loophole in the entire checking procedure, which we believe the fish mafia is well aware off. The entire process of checking for the presence of formalin in fish is just an eyewash, and not being done with serious intent of protecting the health of Goans,” alleged the activists.
The activists also demanded to see how the tests for formalin are conducted.
“The FDA team showed us the formaldehyde detection kit for fresh fish (a technology developed by I Car-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology). The kit included two kinds of solutions, which incidentally the FDA team members could not name. They called it Solution A and Solution B,” said a member of Jagrut Canaconkars.
“The two solutions need to be mixed and shaken for 2 minutes before a single drop is used on a small portion of fish. The test results are positive if the colour changes to dark green within a maximum of 2 minutes. Else, there is no presence of formalin detected in the fish,” the member informed.
When enquired whether the formalin testing kits were available to the general public, the FDA officials informed that the government may make it available at later stages.
“If that is the case, no one would dare to sell formalin-contaminated fish in the state for fear that the public themselves will catch the culprits and hand them over to the authorities,” said another member of JC.
The Jagrut Canaconkars have now decided to write to the Health Minister about the incompetency and shortcomings of the FDA in conducting the formalin tests effectively.
Some of the Jagrut Canconkar members who descended on the Polem
checkpost were Samrat Bhagat, Vallabh Dessai, Janardhan Bhandari, Sandesh Telekar, Sarvesh Acharya, Vishant Prabhu, Ravi Naik, Mithil Chari, Vaibhav Bhat, Chetan Bhandari, Udhav Mulgaonkar and Gourish Komarpant.
The fish loads from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu begin to arrive at Polem border past midnight and by 4 am, over 100 fish-laden trucks cross into Goa making it challenging for FDA officials to undertake efficient formalin testing.
