Health and Fisheries Department officials on Friday conducted raids and collected samples of different fishes from various markets in Puri and Rayagada districts.
A team of officials comprising of Additional District Fishery officer (Marine) Debendra Behera, Assistant Fishery officer Subhashree Das and Food Safety Officer Rajeswari Pati took part in the raid in the holy town and collected samples from various fish traders as well as street vendors in Swargadwara, Satasankha and Market Chhak areas.
The officials also sensitised the vendors and the customers of the harmful effects of formalin which is being used by some unscrupulous traders.
“As these three markets receive fish supplies from the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh in large quantity, it is very much possible that formalin-preserved fishes could have reached here. However, the samples would be sent to the food testing laboratory in Bhubaneswar to ascertain the truth,” said Behera.
Similarly, a team of officials including district Fisheries Officer Hemant Kumar Das, Public Health Supervisor AK Beniya, Assistant Fisheries Officer Barsa Rani Padhi raided different fish markets in Rayagada district in the morning and collected samples.
Samples of fish supplied from from Parvatipuram and Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Balugaon in Odisha was collected from vendors and outlets operating at Overbridge Bazaar and other daily markets in the district.
Notably, on Thursday formalin traces were found in two marine fish samples collected from different markets in Sambalpur.