As much as 150 kilograms of stale fish were seized from the Connemara market at Palayam in a joint raid on Monday conducted by the Health wing of the city Corporation, the Food Safety Department, and the Fisheries department.
With the fish vendors putting up a stiff resistance to the raid, the officials had to seek the help of the police to complete the proceedings.
Tuna and Seer fish
The officials seized stale fish of tuna (Choora) and seerfish (Neymeen) varieties from six vendors. Most of it were at least four to five days old.
Worms were found in some of the seized fish. The vendors claimed that the stale fish were not for sale but were kept to be dried.
Claim refuted
This claim was refuted by the officials who also seized a batch of stale fish that was cut and kept aside to be taken to a restaurant and a toddy shop.
The fish vendors put up resistance to the raid, accusing the officials of taking away even the fresh fish.
“We had requested the presence of Food Safety and Fisheries department officials because they have the expertise to detect stale fish using special strips and other mechanisms. This would be convincing for the fish vendors too. Still, there was resistance from the fish vendors as the raid progressed. We have not conducted raids in the Connemara fish market for a long time, mainly due to the chance of resistance. Now, we will conduct frequent checks to ensure that fresh fish is sold. It has to be said that there were some vendors who were selling only fresh fish,” said Palayam circle Health Inspector G. Manoj, who led the raid.
According to Health wing officials, the raids were conducted following complaints the Corporation was getting in recent weeks.
Last week, a person registered a complaint at the Corporation office, saying that his children had been affected with food poisoning after consuming fish bought from the market.
Complaint
Another complaint regarding quality of fish was received by the food safety authority, citing the exact locations of the vendors selling stale fish.
Following the raid by the authorities, the officials removed the stale fish, while some of the samples were sent for testing to check for the presence of formalin.
Further action, including imposing fine on the vendors responsible, would be taken based on the test result, the officials said.
