North-East states convinced AP fish safe

Vijayawada: Relentless efforts by the state government to persuade the fish traders of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland to import fish from Andhra Pradesh is bearing fruit. These states had banned import of fish from Andhra Pradesh nearly a month ago, suspecting that its fish had traces of formalin. The fish traders and farmers of Andhra Pradesh deny the allegations.

A delegation comprising officials from various government departments visited north east states from July 13 to 16 and convinced the local traders to import fish from Andhra Pradesh. Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu also wrote a letter to the three states requesting the latter to import fish from Andhra Pradesh and made it clear the Andhra Pradesh fish is free from formalin and they can do tests easily.

All these efforts have begun yielding results for the past few days.  A senior official in the Department of Fisheries who did not want his name to be quoted said: "The Governments of Manipur and Nagaland have lifted the ban on the import of fish from Andhra Pradesh." Consequently, every day dozens of trucks with fish loads are moving towards NE states from West Godavari and Krishna districts for the last few days.

With the calling off the strike by truck operators three days ago, the fish traders resumed exports to some NE states after testing the fish for formalin by task force teams. The state government has appointed Task Force teams comprising officials from the departments of fisheries, food safety, animal husbandry and agriculture to conduct random tests with the special kits.

A senior official working in Fisheries department, Gudivada, said random formalin confirmation tests are being conducted every day. "So far not a single truck carrying fish with traces of formalin came to our notice in the region," he said, adding that the Task Force teams are doing their job very meticulously and are keeping an eye on trucks which sneak out to national highways without their stocks undergoing random check for formalin traces.

S Kumar, a well-known fish exporter in Bhimavaram said: “Every day we send WhatsApp message to the importer in NE states giving details of truck number, date of starting, quantity and most importantly the seal laid by the Task Force teams, so that he could be rest assured of quality."

He said that the seal cannot be opened easily since the task force teams are using special kits developed by the CIFT, Kochi, Kerala for formalin confirmation tests. "Formalin is used as a preservative for biological specimens in laboratories to prevent their decomposition. Since formalin is poisonous, it should not be used to preserve fish or any biological organism meant for human consumption," an official said.