The Government of Bihar, on Wednesday, lifted the blanket ban on sale, storage and transportation of fish from Andhra Pradesh in urban areas of Patna. The declaration has come after a 15-day ban due to presence of formalin.
In this regard, in early January, Bihar FDA officials found that fish brought in from Andhra Pradesh contained formalin. Kailash Pati, Food Safety Officer, Bihar FDA, explained, “Earlier in January 2019, the consignment of fish which was brought to Bihar from Andhra Pradesh was found to be suspicious and laboratory tests proved the presence of high content of formalin, therefore a
ban was imposed for 15 days.”
Following this, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu called the Bihar state officials to conduct fresh investigation in the quality of fish from AP.
Based on the CM’s request, a state team from Patna including Food Safety Officers (FSOs) from Bihar Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and animal husbandry and fisheries department, Bihar, carried out fresh investigation in quality and harvesting and packaging of fishes.
Giving details on the fresh investigation, Nishat Ahmad, director, fisheries, department of animal husbandry and fisheries, Bihar, said that the quality check was carried out by using formalin testing kit. He added, "However, all tests were found to be negative and the team found nothing suspicious in the fish trade."
In result, the ban was lifted. Pati from Bihar FDA stated, "The ban was put only for 15 days and there is no extension given to the ban. The samples collected were sent to Central Food Laboratory in Kolkata which showed negative results. Hence, after getting clearance reports, it is declared that the ban has been lifted."
He added that during the ban period, sale of local fish in Patna went up.
