SHILLONG: Meghalaya Health and Family Welfare Minister, A.L Hek said the state would for the ‘time being’ not ban the sale of fish as tests on the samples collected were found negative even as the government introduced a formaldehyde detection kit.
“Until and unless we are given proof or evidence of samples testing positive, for the time-being we are not going to ban the sale of fish in Meghalaya,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Prior to the media interaction, there was a joint meeting of the Health and Fisheries departments with the Khasi Jaintia Wholesaler and Retailer Association on the issue.
“Meghalaya has already sent 26 formalin tests to the laboratory. Out of 26, the report for 13 formalin tests has arrived. All the reports are negative. We are waiting for the other 13 tests which are still under way,” he said.
He said the report for the 13 tests will take two weeks but a formaldehyde detection kit arrived here on Wednesday.
The samples were sent to the State Public Health Laboratory in Guwahati.
“From tomorrow onwards, the Fisheries and Health departments will jointly test all the fish in the market right from the truck that comes from Andhra Pradesh throughout the state. “Even the local fish will also be tested,” Hek said.
With the testing kit in hand, he said the government will not only wait for the report of remaining 13 tests but will go ahead with testing the fishes by the two departments along with the food safety commissioner.
“We have told the association that if we find any of the tests to be positive, if there is a need, we have to ban sale of fish keeping in mind the safety and security of the citizens of the state,” the minister said.
He added if any tests are found positive, the government would alert people and ban the sale of fish in the market.
Fisheries minister, Comingone Ymbon said around 21, 000 MT per year of fishes are brought to the state from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Odisha and West Bengal.
Commenting on the tests that were found positive in the states of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland, Hek said, “We depend on our tests only. We don’t depend on the tests from outside.”
At this query, Ymbon said, “From tomorrow onwards, we will start the test.”
Asked when the state would come up with its own laboratory, he said the existing laboratory at Pasteur Institute needed to be upgraded.
The Khasi Jaintia Wholesaler and Retailer Association president, Mitchell Wankhar said, “We have not found anything here in Meghalaya. How can we say that the fish coming into Meghalaya is injected with formalin?”
