Officials find no formalin-laced fish in Coimbatore’s Ukkadam market

COIMBATORE: Nearly 10 days after almost 15 tonne of fish laced with formalin was seized in Kerala, the food safety department and the fisheries department raided the seafood shops in Ukkadam fish market here on Friday. However, officials said none of the sellers was found using the carcinogenic substance to preserve their stock. They were found using only ice.
Food safety and fisheries officers arrived at the Ukkadam fish market, the biggest fish market in the district, on Friday morning for a surprise raid. They inspected the containers and vessels in which the fish were kept and checked if vendors were using preservatives or unnatural substances to keep fish fresh.

“However, none of them was found using formalin or any preservative,” said designated food safety officer Dr Vijayalalithambigai.

Officials also checked the general hygiene of the shops, the extent of plastic bags usage and the disposal of fish waste. “We found houseflies and other flies in almost all the shops. While it cannot be prevented in an outdoor setting where such large quantities of raw meat are being sold, we suggested that they use mosquito nets to create a screen in front of each of their shops and also spread it over their wares that they display on the surface,” said the officer.

All the meat waste was found piled in a corner. Shopkeepers were told that they should hand over the waste to the corporation vehicle coming for the purpose daily. “We told them that we would take strict action if they were found dumping waste in water bodies,” said a fisheries department official.

Almost all the 110 shops were found using thin plastic bags. “We suggested using banana leaves, dried lotus leaves and butter paper to wrap fish. We also suggested that they ask customers to bring vessels from home while coming to buy fish,” said Dr Vijayalalithambigai.