Abstract

Use of adulterants at various stages of transportation from farm to consumers is a common practice to prolong storage life of fresh or chilled fish. In Assam, use of formalin (formaldehyde in water) has been suspected in imported fish to prolong its shelf life and prevent spoilage. In order to test this practice, ICAR-CIFRI conducted a case study in three wholesale fish markets of Guwahati for detection of formaldehyde during November 2023 and May 2024. One out of six muscle samples that were collected from local fish was found to have traces of formaldehyde but below the method detection level (BDL). So, this can be considered as safe for human health and considered as naturally produced during post-mortem degradation. On the contrary, fishes imported from Andhra Pradesh or West Bengal did not have any traces of formaldehyde, which might be due to quick harvest and icing practice before transportation. This implies that if fishes are kept under iced condition immediately after harvesting, formaldehyde will not be naturally produced in fish. Monitoring of fish samples coming to Assam from other states needs to be carried out on regular interval to build confidence among the consumers. It is necessary to build infrastructure/ laboratory with state-of-the-art facilities for detection of contaminants including pathogens that poses risk to the human health.