Mizzima News

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – It has become difficult to recall banned fish paste products from the shelves of shops though the Burmese military junta banned the products on finding industrial red chemical dye in it, which can cause cancer.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Ministry of Health issued a notice in daily newspapers on May 1 saying that some fish paste brands are using a red dye called 'Rhodamine B' which is not fit for consumption. But according to fish paste trading houses it is very difficult to remove all the banned products from the market.

"We are recalling all the banned products from the market. But it's not production season so there are only limited stocks, all of which have already been sent to the market. Now we are finding it difficult to remove the products from the shelves," an owner of a fish paste trading house in Rangoon told Mizzima.

Dr. Kyaw Lin, of the FDA, said that enforcement of this notice will be done only by local bodies of food and drug supervision committees formed township-wise. The local bodies can seize all the banned products from the market. They can also give permission again to sell them in the market.

The FDA issued a notice saying that 79 brands of raw fish paste and fish paste products out of a total of 101 brands were found unfit for consumption. Out of these banned brands, there are 20 brands of ready-made fish paste products and 59 brands of raw fish paste.

This industrial red chemical dye is usually used in dyeing of yarns, wool, woolen clothes, paper and hides. It is also used as laboratory chemical regents in pathology labs.

The industrial chemical dye can cause swelling of gastric and intestinal tracts, nausea, vomiting and dullness in the nervous system. Moreover it can cause cancer in the long run.

Fish paste traders said that the chemical dye was being used by fish paste producers as colouring agents for better colour and they were totally ignorant that the dye could affect health.

"The fish paste production season is over. In the next season, we must tell them (producers) not to use the dye and produce only white coloured products," 'Toe Pwa' a fish paste trading house owner said.

Though the FDA has announced that two staple food items for Burmese people -- pickled tea leaves and fish paste - are found to be contaminated with industrial chemical dyes and not fit for consumption, no government action has yet been taken to stop these products being sold in the market.

Fish paste is a common item in Burmese cuisine and it is also the staple food in prisons, training institutes and for common people.