Mangaluru: The kit to check if the fishes have been treated with the poisonous formalin or ammonia to maintain their freshness has arrived in Mangaluru. The kit has been brought from the central technology institution at Kochi in Kerala.

On Friday, the district food department officials visited a few markets and fish markets and inspected fishes to check if they were being treated with chemicals. Henceforth, if the public, especially fish lovers, suspect that the fish that they have bought is laced with chemicals; they can promptly bring it to the fisheries college at Yekkur and test it for quality.

Fear rose in Karavali, after the news went viral that since there was a ban on fishing, the fish was being brought from neighbouring states and was laced with formalin which is a carcinogenic chemical. In this backdrop, a team from Fisheries College went to Kochi and brought the kit to Mangaluru.

“There is a slide in this CIFT developed kit. When the fish is subjected to the paper strip and liquid, the colour of the fish will change within three minutes based on which it is determined if the fish has been subjected to formalin or ammonia,” informed Mahesh Kumar, Deputy Director, Fisheries Department.