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Fish from Lake Victoria safe - TFDA
2007-05-16 08:43:19
By Guardian Correspondents
The Tanzania Food and Drug Authority yesterday dismissed as completely baseless and unjustified claims that fish transported from Mwanza and the Lake Victoria zone generally to other regions are treated with formalin, a chemical used to preserve dead bodies.
There have been long-running suggestions that dishonest fish dealers out to make quick gains have been using the chemical to preserve their products, most of which are thereafter transported by road from or via Mwanza to other regions.
TFDA public relations officer Gaudensia Simwanza told The Guardian in Dar es Salaam yesterday that investigations by the authority had shown beyond reasonable doubt that it was simply not possible to consume fish treated with the chemical without knowing it.
“There is strict patrolling and surveillance at all terminals where fish are delivered and in all areas where tests and samples are taken for laboratory tests,” she stated.
She added that a team of TFDA specialists and medical officials are always involved in the operation and routinely intercept all vehicles carrying fish, “whether in cooling boxes or in vans”.
Simwanza said whenever a fish is injected with formalin, the emission of fumes from the chemical continues even after the fish is cooked or soaked in water for a long time.
`The particular fish also stiffens, assumes an uncharacteristically black colour, becomes very unpalatable, hard to eat and difficult to scale because the skin easily peels off,` she pointed out.
The TFDA official explained that some fish transporters subjected the fish to refrigeration in specially designated cold rooms for two or more days running and then transported them to Dar es Salaam, where they arrived in safe and sound condition.
`Our investigations have shown that some transporters use sawdust to transport the fish apparently because sawdust is a bad conductor of heat and it does not allow air to come in or out of the vans they use in the business,” she noted.
“They use sawdust and freeze the fish for two or more days. They then arrange the fish in layers, with every layer covered with sawdust and a plastic paper to regulate air movement in the vans,” she added.
Simwanza said it is believed that the formalin use allegations broke out and spread soon after the onset of Rift Valley Fever in Dodoma that saw people abandoning meat and other meat products and started using fish as an alternative.
She hinted that the claims were therefore more of an unsubstantiated business-related rumour meant to kill trade in fish just like RVF had made the meat market collapse.
“These were allegations merely meant to sabotage the fish business in areas where previously livestock and meat dealers had a field day so that they can retain their customers for later use,” she said.
Meanwhile, a survey by The Guardian in a number of fish fresh shops in Dar es Salaam has established that all fish on sale bear a stamp showing that the fish have been screened by experts recognised by the government and passed as fit for human consumption.
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