On the trail of formalin in Kerala and beyond

A few months ago, Kerala unleashed a massive hunt for fish laden with toxic preservatives. The State’s food safety department conducted inspections across the State’s 14 districts and seized thousands of tonnes of fish kept in formalin. In July, for instance, officials seized 6,000 kg fish contaminated with formalin in north Kerala’s Vadakara. Just that month, 21,600 kg toxic-fish was seized as part of the State’s ‘Operation Sagar Rani’, triggering a debate around the need to further efforts to contain entry and sale of fish preserved in dangerous chemicals.

Francis Joy (name changed), a retail fish vendor in one of the busiest markets in Kochi, however, says Kerala’s efforts to curb the use of chemicals to preserve fish have yielded only partial success. Formalin is used to preserve fish when production falls short on account of the ban on trawling operations. Those who mix chemicals with fresh fish cite economic reasons for their actions. Such chemicals are used because the cost of ice for preserving fish is on the rise, Joy points out.

Economics of formalin use

A fishing boat that spends nearly 20 days in the sea requires around 10 tonnes of ice to conserve the catch till the boat reaches the shore. But to reduce the spend on ice which costs around ₹90 for a block, many boat operators prefer to keep chemicals such as formalin, ammonia etc. before venturing out into the sea. Such catches go unnoticed even when these trawlers reach landing centres. “I usually avoid auctioning such stocks as my agents help me identify such parcels”, says Joy.

However, he adds that fish sold in Kochi and surrounding areas are relatively safe and free from any toxic chemicals, thanks to rising public awareness and constant vigil by food safety authorities at several check posts in the post Operation Sagararani phase. Formalin is used as a sterliser, as an embalm fluid and preservative in medical laboratories. It is well known for using in the preservation of tissues. Fish traders while transporting fishes to domestic marketing chain sometimes add or spray formalin to prevent spoilage and increase the shelf life.

Charles George, president of Swathanthra Matsya Thozhilali Union, affiliated to TUCI, says there are allegations that tuna long liners that spend over 20-25 days in the deep sea are using chemicals for preserving the catch. Around 600 fishing trawlers are venturing into the sea from fishing harbours in Kochi and it is a challenging task to inspect all the boats. In Kerala, fish production generally falls short of demand between November to May, says George. At times, nearly a third of the demand is locally available and the rest is imported, say fish vendors.

Kerala, says George, is a fish consuming State and there is no need to preserve the fish for a long time in view of the surging demand. The State’s fish consumption is estimated at 9 lakh tonnes a year against a production of 5 lakh tonnes. Of this, inland water catch constitutes another 1 lakh tonnes. The remaining 3 lakh tonnes have to be sourced from other states.

The ‘fear factor’ among consumers has abated since June-July but the formalin-laced fish is alive and kicking, says T Peter, General Secretary, National Fish Workers’ Forum. Asserting that the Operation Sagararani launched in June was a success, officials at the Kerala Commissionerate of Food Safety, Thiruvananthapuram point out that the usage of formalin has stopped in the entire State. This is evident from the drop in samples received by the agency, a senior official said.

Citing Indian and international regulations, Ashok Kumar, Head of the Department, Fish Processing, Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) says that fresh fish should be preserved only by means of ice and use of substances other than ice to maintain quality is a fraudulent practice. The usage of ice on fish should be in the ratio 1:1, but for monetary reasons, boat owners reduce the usage of ice.

“We have developed two rapid detection kits for checking adulteration of fish with formaldehyde and ammonia. Through a collective efforts of the agencies such as Fisheries Department, Food Safety, State government, the product have received wide acceptance. For commercial production, we transferred the technology to Mumbai based Hi Media,” he says.

Kumar says that the natural occurrence of formalin or the permissible limit of formalin after the death of a fish (postmortem changes) will not be higher than 4 ppm (parts per million). If the fish with more than 4 ppm of formalin is traced, it can be concluded that traders have added some chemicals for preservation. The kits developed by CIFT will detect fish with the chemical above 4 ppm.

Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (Kufos), which carried out a detailed study, has indicated that formaldehyde content was high in high value fishes like seer fish, tuna, rohu, whereas small quantities were observed in commonly consumed fishes like mackerel and sardine. But the University’s present studies show that the addition of formalin has considerably reduced which may be due to the strict inspection by the food safety department, says KL Blossom, Assistant Professor (Food Sciences and Nutrition), School of Aquatic Food Products and Technology, Kufos and TP Amitha Raj, research fellow.

According to them, formaldehyde is toxic, allergenic and carcinogenic and causes inflammation of the linings of the mouth, throat and gastrointestinal tract. The consumption of formalin could also cause muscle problems in humans. Alex K Thomas, MD and CEO of the online fish marketing firm Daily Fish says that Kerala is a high-end fish consuming state with a consumption of 2,500 tonnes per day. Of this, the State’s share is 1500 tonnes and the remaining is sourced from Gujarat, Mumbai, and other north Indian States where there is reported usage of chemicals to keep fish fresh and shiny. There was a drop in consumption by about 40-50 per cent during June when the government started Operation Sagararani. Now the market has recovered, he says.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Fisheries Commissioner Ram Shankar Naik has said the issue of formalin arose earlier this year, with some north-eastern States rejecting the State’s fish. “Immediately, we formed a taskforce and a team of experts to check the authenticity of the reports. We checked samples t the major fish packing centres in West Godavari and Krishna districts. We found no traces of formalin. We also visited Assam and other states and could prove to the satisfaction of officials that no formalin was being used by AP farmers or packers.”

Amjad Balange, Senior Scientist, Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE) Mumbai says: “CIFE is planning a study in Mumbai’s fish markets to analyse the issue. We will pick up samples from supplies from Andhra Pradesh to check for formaldehyde and sodium benzoate.”

An official from the Karnataka Fisheries Department says though formalin was detected from samples in coastal Karnataka, these were below the FAO-permissible limit. Vasudeva Buloor, vice president of the National Fishworkers’ Federation argues that coastal Karnataka was free of the problem.

With inputs from Vinson Kurian, Vishwanath Kulkarni, Maitri Porecha, Ch RS Sarma, AJ Vinayak & Jinoy Jose P