A team led by Food Safety Officer of Kokrajhar district visited the fish market of the Kokrajhar main bazar and collected samples for examining formalin in fish and crustaceans coming from outside the State.
Food Inspector and Designated Food Safety Officer, Kokrajhar, Bilifang Basumatary said, “We have collected samples to examine if there is formalin in the fish brought from outside the State.”
Basumatary said the collected samples would be sent to State Public Health Laboratory in Guwahati for analysis. This is the first time in Kokrajhar that samples have been collected for examining formalin in fish and crustaceans coming from the outside State.
Basumatry also said, “The samples of fish and crustaceans coming from outside the State would be collected at regular intervals from the market for analysis to see the presence of formalin.”
It is to be mention that the Assam Government had last month imposed a ban on import and sale of fish coming from outside State for 10 days after detection of formalin in samples of fish collected from a market in Guwahati.
Formalin is a toxic and carcinogenic chemical and therefore harmful to health. It is commonly used to preserve human bodies in mortuaries.