GUWAHATI: After the State Public Health Laboratory, Assam confirmed formalin in samples of fish the state has restricted procurement of fish from outside Assam for the next ten days.
This was announced by Pijush Hazarika, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Assam on Tuesday.
The government is however reluctant to stop the fish procurement for a long time as a large number of people might be affected by such a step.
“After 10 days, we will again conduct drives and if formalin is still found, we will punish them under the provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. The original sellers will be contacted through the cash memos. Also, we will request the local sellers to not increase the price during this period,” said Hazarika.
On steps to identify fish being chemically-treated for preservation, the minister said that testing kits are being procured.
“We have procured a testing kit from Germany. It will reach us within 7 days. After that it will be able to test fish on spot. At present, it takes some time to get the results and can’t be done on spot,” confirmed Hazarika.
Pijush Hazarika had on June 29 announced that if results came positive for formalin the state will ban procuring fish from outside.
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