Shillong, June 8: The state government on Thursday banned the sale of imported fresh fish for a period of 15 days, after 30 samples of fish were tested positive for ‘formalin’ which is an unpermitted preservative.

In a notification, Commissioner of Food Safety RM Kurbah said,“…the storage, distribution or sale of imported fresh fish or crustaceans brought from outside the state is hereby prohibited for a period of 15 days in the interest of public health or till corrective measures are taken with effect from the date of issue of this notification.”

Kurbah also warned that non-compliance to this notification will attract imprisonment upto 7 years and a fine upto Rs 10 lakh as provided under Section 59 (iv) of the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006.

The notification said out of 40 samples of fish tested, 30 samples have been tested positive for formalin as per the analysis reports from the Assistant Food Analyst to the Government of Meghalaya vide report dated June 6, which is highly toxic and injurious to health.

“In pursuance of the Regulation 3.1.4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards & Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, indicates the preservatives permitted to be used in select articles of food and formalin is not included in the said list of permitted preservatives.”

“And whereas, distribution, storage and sale of fresh fish treated with formalin or other unpermitted preservatives render the articles ‘unsafe’ under Section 3(1)(zz)(v) of the Food Safety & Standard Act, 2006,” it added.