Goa Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai on Saturday accused the media of sensationalising the finding of formalin in fish during raids by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) at Margao and Panaji fish markets on Friday.
Addressing presspersons in Margao in South Goa, Mr. Sardesai said the media was acting like “prophets of doom” for alleging that he supported fish traders who imported formalin-laced fish from neighbouring States. He denied veiled allegations that he backed such import of fish. The seized consignments during the raid tested positive during the FDA’s field tests. FDA officials confirmed the presence of formalin or formaldehyde in fish consignments from Maharashtra, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
The officials had sealed the fish consignments, but a tweet by Mr. Sardesai giving a clean chit to thefish traders and a laboratory report showing formalin content in the fish was “within permissible limits”, sparked an outrage.
Major local dailies ran lead stories and editorials criticising the government for trying to downplay the incident and the threat it posed to public health. A visibly annoyed Mr. Sardesai also snubbed the woman FDA officer who conducted the raid. He claimed that the media was projecting the officer as a “heroine” and wondered if the Padma Bhushan should be bestowed on her and her staff members.
He said, “You journalists are the fourth estate of democracy. You have an obligation to the people. You cannot be prophets of doom. I am responding because of the editorials that have been written and the sensationalism the media is indulging in full-swing.”
Mr. Sardesai said the government might ban the import of fish if consignments test positive for formalin again. He said, “If this happens again, I am of the view that we should ban fish from outside the State. During the current ban period, fish come only from the eastern coast.”
Mr. Sardesai said he was aware of the perils posed by carcinogenic agents and his sister had died of cancer. He said, “That’s why we are talking about safe food for vegetarians too. My sister died of cancer. We feel it is the consumption of contaminated fruits and vegetables that is the cause of cancer. My sister used to only eat small fish and not big ones like pomfret and kingfish. I am a person who is a victim of this contamination of food. So I am not going to defend anybody.”
Mr. Sardesai did not spare the FDA and asked the agency to be more vigilant rather than conduct raids “once in a blue moon”.
