MADURAI: After the seafood that are sold in Karimedu fish market were found to be laced with formalin, nearly two tonnes of fish that had the presence of the chemical were dumped by the officials of the Department of Food Safety in the wee hours on Saturday.
Led by the Designated Officer of the Department of Food Safety M Somasundaram, a team of 15 officials of the Department of Food Safety conducted an on-the-spot screening of seafood including fish, crabs and prawns that are being sold in Karimedu fish market around 10.30 pm on Friday.
With the help of testing kits, provided by a city-based private laboratory that have National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) certification, the officials screened the seafood kept for sales at more than 40 shops.
The seafood that was procured from within Tamil Nadu, as well as the neighbouring states of Kerala and Karnataka, were tested positive for the presence of formalin, a chemical ingredient used to preserve dead bodies.