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Beware! Formalin in fish

MORSHED ALI KHAN
The widespread use of formalin, a chemical that contaminates fish but makes them appear fresh, continues across the country with the authorities seemingly reluctant to stop the practice.
Top officials of the health ministry, Dhaka City Corporation's (DCC) Public Health Laboratory (PHL) and Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) under the commerce ministry pointed fingers at one another, no-one knowing which body should combat the practice.
Over the last two years, misuse of formalin, which represents a serious health hazard to people,
has been widely reported in the media, including The Daily Star, and yet the authorities are sitting on their hands.
Although there is no statistics available with the fisheries and livestock or industries ministries, an observation revealed that every day some 150 tonnes of fish are sold in the city's 40 kitchen markets and about half a dozen wholesale markets.
Sources at the Directorate of Fisheries said a great amount of the fishes sold in the city is imported from India and Myanmar and might be the source of formalin.
Minister for Health and Family Welfare Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said it was not the jurisdic-
tion of his ministry to stop the use of formalin.
"Of course we are concerned about the fact but we cannot do anything. It must be the BSTI which should have the mandate to clamp down on formalin use in fish," Mosharraf told The Daily Star.
At the BSTI office in Tejgaon, the director general was not available for comment. A senior official preferring anonymity said the BSTI could only monitor items certified by it prior to production.
"You should talk to the DCC, which has a Public Health Laboratory with mandate to fight
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adulteration," he added.
The PHL is the only authority in the city to check on food adulteration and hygiene in the food chain.
Golam Sarwar, chief public analyst of the PHL, said, "Unfortunately, we cannot do anything as the Pure Food Ordinance 1958 does not have fish as a food item. That's why we have no way of prosecuting the offenders even if we catch them."
But he admitted that since formalin is not a consumable item, it could cause various gastrointestinal disorders.
"The use of formalin to preserve fish is extremely unhygienic and it is one hundred percent unfit for human consumption. We have to wait until the near redundant ordinance is amended," the chemist said.
At different city markets, most traders said they heard about the use of such a chemical on fish imported from countries like India and Myanmar.
A trader at New Market said he suspected wholesale traders applied formalin to fish, whether imported or produced in large quantities in rural areas of Bangladesh.
Shortage of freezing facilities and ice factories and timeconsuming transport force them to resort to such a malpractice, he noted.
Scientists at the Institute of Food Science & Technology (IFST) approved that the liquid form of formaldehyde known as formalin could cause serious health hazards.
A scientist of the IFST said there has never been a test to identify the level of formalin's harmfulness, adding that there are reports of increasing number of patients with kidney and other gastrointestinal disorders.
But unless there is a proper study, it is impossible to prove that formalin caused the diseases.
A senior IFST scientist said medical students use formalin to prevent dead bodies from degrading while different laboratories, museums and private collectors use it to have fish and other animals stuffed. The chemical is available at any scientific store at none-too-high a rate.
"Traders inject formalin into the fins and stomach of fish when they start to rot."
If a customer is careful, they can easily recognise formalin-injected fish. "A contaminated fish looks pale and it becomes hard because formalin stiffens the muscles."
"A fresh fish is shiny, its eyes are clear and its fins look and smell fresh, anything other tha