A Food Safety squad on Friday seized around 5,000 kg of fish preserved in formalin from a lorry at Puthuppanam, near Vadakara, in Kozhikode district. The lorry was on its way from Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu to Kozhikode.
The squad confirmed the presence of the preservative using a testing strip developed by the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT).
Stock buried
Soon after the preliminary test proved the presence of formalin, the seized stock was buried. Four packets of samples, each weighing 500 gm, will be further tested at the CIFT and the Kozhikode Regional Analytical Lab.
Vadakara Food Safety Officer P. Jithinraj said the squad got a tip-off on the stock from a Motor Vehicles Department squad in Vadakara. The lorry was parked at Puthuppanam following a mechanical snag. There were two persons, including the driver, in the vehicle at the time of the inspection, he said.
132 boxes
There were 132 boxes of adulterated fish in the lorry. The fish was loaded from Tamil Nadu for distribution among retailers in the district.
The driver and the cleaner of the lorry are Keralites. Legal action would be recommended against the Tamil Nadu-based suppliers on the basis of the lab report.
“We have been checking all the suspected stocks in the wake of recent reports on adulterated fish. In support of the drive, we have been given three testing kits containing the newly developed strips,” said Mr. Jithinraj.
Food Safety Officers Febina Mohammed Ashraf, Renjith P. Gopi and Vishnu S. Shaji were part of the team that impounded the lorry.
