Kalinga TV News Network
Puri/Rayagada: With an objective to ensure that shops and outlets don’t sell formalin-preserved fish, the officials of Food Safety, Public Health and Fisheries department conducted more raids in the state on Friday and collected samples from different market areas in Puri and Rayagada districts.
A team of officials comprising of Addl. District Fishery officer (Marine) Debendra Behera, Assistant Fishery officer Subhashree Das and Food Safety Officer Rajeswari Pati took part in the raid in the religious town and collected samples from various fish outlets as well as street vendors active in Swargadwara, Satasankha and Market Chhak areas.
The officials also made the vendors and the customers aware of the harmful effects of the formalin which happens to be a cancer causing substance and is being used to keep fish fresh for long time by some unscrupulous traders.
“As these three markets receive fish supplies from the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh in large quantity, it is very much possible that formalin-preserved fishes could have reached here. However, the samples would be sent to the food testing laboratory in Bhubaneswar to find out the truth,” said Behera.
Similarly, a team of officials including District Fisheries Officer Hemant Kumar Das, Public Health Supervisor A. K Beniya, Assistant Fisheries Officer Barsa Rani Padhi raided different fish markets in Rayagada district later in the morning and collected samples.
Samples of fish supplied from from Parvatipuram and Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Balugaon in Odisha was collected from vendors and outlets operating at Overbridge Bazaar and other daily markets in the district.
Notably, on Thursday formalin traces were found in at least two marine fish samples collected from different markets in Sambalpur.
Earlier on July 13, the Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Secretary Vishal Gagan had confirmed the presence of the harmful substance in Pomfret fish samples collected from Unit-4 market in Bhubaneswar.
Taking the matter with a serious note the Commissioner of Food Safety Archana Patnaik has asked district public health officials and municipal corporations in the state to collect fish samples and get them examined in the food testing laboratory.
Ms Kalinga