Food Safety Officials Explain Ways to Check if a Fish is Fresh or Not

Following reports of widespread sale of stale and contaminated fish, the Kerala Food Safety department has advised consumers to be cautious even as it has launched a crackdown on sellers of harmful products.

The food safety agency has deployed night and day squads as part of a larger monitoring effort to guarantee that the public has access to safe seafood. According to TNIE, the Commissionerate of Food Safety has formed special squads under each district office to perform inspections at night auction markets, check stations, and local markets around the state.

Food safety officials performed surprise inspections at 329 locations on Tuesday, collecting 374 samples from local fish markets around the state. Thiruvananthapuram had the largest number of stale seafood seized.

On the first day of the drive, the officials gathered surveillance samples from the Amaravila checkpoint and the Panchimoodu market. The night fish markets in Venjaramoodu, Kadambattukonam, TB Junction, Poovar, and other day markets like Peroorkada, Kesavadasapuram, and Maruthamkuzhy, according to an official, would be scrutinised.

How to check if fish is fresh 

• Use your finger to test the fish. When pressing down on the flesh with your finger, the finger print should vanish quickly as the flesh bounces back. If it is still present, the fish is not fresh.

• The eyes of fresh fish will be clear, bright, and shining. They will also have bright, metallic skin.

• Look for scales that are tightly connected. On rotting fish, you will find disjointed ones.

• The gills of fresh fish are bright and red. It is brown or faded in stale fish. If there is slime near the gills, the fish is stale.

• Fresh fish does not have a fishy odour.

Where to complain?

People can call the toll-free number 1800-425-1125 in the event of any adulteration in food goods, especially seafood.