The Gauhati High Court, following the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), has issued notifications to the Assam Government, Fishery Department, and Food Safety Department to prohibit the sale of formalin-laced fish.
Presence Of Formalin In Imported Fish
It is mentioned another warning was issued to Nagaon College after they discovered the presence of formalin in imported fish for the first time. The court has advised the college to produce a report.
According to a study, eating fish with formalin can cause cancer. The court has directed the parties involved to provide an affidavit by May 21.
The Assam Fishery Department alerted four institutes to perform research and testing of various fish samples for the presence of formalin.
The four institutes were the Gauhati University Zoology Department, the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, NER, Guwahati, the College of Fisheries, Raha, and the Assam Agricultural University, Guwahati.
In this regard, a few state research students said that research was done on a few fishes obtained from the local markets of the Nagaon area and samples were taken to inspect in the laboratory.
After formalin was discovered in imported fish in 2018, the state government banned the import and sale of fish from other states for ten days.