Though locked down, Malayalis at home cannot stay for long without meat and fish. With the arrival of Easter, there is a huge demand for meat and fish. Often meat is slaughtered before our eyes, and there is little chance of getting stale. But that is not the case with the fish. Due to the lack of fishing across the country due to lockdown, the situation of getting clean fish in our markets has ceased. Taking advantage of this, the long-kept fish from a different state began to cross the border.
There have been widespread complaints that fish that arrive in the market for days in lorries without proper heat control systems are often rotten and sometimes even worm-baked. The Chief Minister had stated in a press conference that strong action will be taken against this.
Only clean and packed deep freeze meat and fish at 40 degrees has a usage period of about six months. But the name of this freezing system is that many of the fishes that cross the border often are just old fishes with only ice in boxes. Operation Sagar Rani is an initiative of the state government headed by the Food Safety Department to address this situation and ensure the availability of clean fish for Malayalis.
The project, which was launched three years ago, is now running more efficiently during lockdown. The Food Safety Officers of 14 districts and several Food Safety Officers under the coordination of State Food Safety Commissioner Ajayakumar have tightened inspections throughout the state. In addition, the checked posts are sent back to the carts for the old fish and the fish in the carts are checked by the officers and sent to the markets.
About one lakh kgs of fish have been seized and destroyed all over the state. As a result, the old stocks from the markets and the big fish that are being kept in ice in thermocol boxes have disappeared. With the approval of traditional fisheries, fresh fish, fish and prawns have become available. Currently, the state-wide inspection systems led by the Department of Food Safety, Health Department and Fisheries Department play an important role in the food security of Malayalis.
A significant percentage of people have turned to pets because of concerns about the quality of fish available in the markets. Pets may become more popular in the future. And farmers may get better.