Mandeville Fish is safe

[jamaica_dreamin]

NEWS

Mandeville fish safe
No formaldehyde detected following lab tests
Jamaica Observer
Thursday, July 29, 2010


AGRICULTURE and Fisheries Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says the fish being sold in the Mandeville Market and across the country is safe for consumption.
His declaration follows the collection of samples of fish for testing for the presence of formaldehyde in several fishing villages and marketplaces across the country. The tests were ordered after news broke a month ago that formaldehyde had been found on fish being sold in the Mandeville market.
Speaking with fishermen and public health officials at a town hall meeting in Mandeville this morning, Dr Tufton said samples tested had returned negative for formaldehyde — a deadly chemical that is used to preserve dead bodies before burial.
“The Veterinary Services Division working in conjunction with the Ministry of Health visited numerous locations and collected samples of fish for the testing for the presence of formaldehyde,” Tufton said.
“Samples were collected from the Old Harbour Bay Fishing Village, Old Harbour Market, Mandeville Market, Rocky Point Fishing Village and Black River Fish Market. From these areas, a total of 16 samples were collected. All tests were negative, meaning, no trace of formaldehyde was found in any of the fish samples collected.”
A team of officers from the Veterinary Services Division began collecting samples on July 12.
Dr Tufton said the ministry’s Veterinary Services Division, the Fisheries Division and the Ministry of Health will continue to closely monitor all areas where fish is offered for sale, including imported fish.
A month ago, the Manchester Health Department effectively shut down operations in the Mandeville Market, after reporting that some vendors at the market used formaldehyde to prevent their fish from spoiling.
Related story:
Mandeville fish sales plummet

[jamaica_dreamin]

Re: Mandeville Fish is safe

NEWS

Mandeville fish sales plummet
BY RHOMA TOMLINSON Sunday Observer writer [email protected]
Sunday, July 04, 2010


MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Fish vendors in the Mandeville market say news that they are using embalming chemicals to keep their fish fresh has wiped out their livelihood and dented the fish industry in this parish capital. They say fish sales have plummeted and are demanding an apology from the parish council which they say has tainted their reputation.
News last week that the government chemist had found levels of the chemical formaldehyde in samples of fish taken from the market, sent shock waves across the parish and led shoppers to turn their backs on fish sold there. The samples were taken after complaints surfaced in March that a shopper had fallen ill after eating fish purchased there.
Fish vendor Jean, fries what’s left of her fish stock. She said vendors had to be frying their fish and eating them, after sales plummetted as a result of news that some vendors were using the substance formaldehyde to preserve their fish.
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Formaldehyde is an embalming powder used in funeral homes to keep bodies fresh.
But the vendors say the matter was handled poorly, as the news was made public before they were consulted. A meeting between the parish council and fish vendors on Monday turned stormy, after vendors vehemently denied embalming their fish, becoming boisterous on several occasions.
When the Sunday Observer visited on Thursday, the usually busy fish market area had all but disappeared. No fish was on sale and the few vendors milling around were in a militant mood.
They said since the news broke, no one has been coming in to buy fish. They say normally, they'd make an average $6,000 - $10,000 per day and more on weekends, but that had dropped to almost nothing. "See it deh, a $500 mi mek from morning," one vendor said.
Another said she had only made $1,000.
Jean, who said she has been selling fish for well over 20 years, said the few vendors who turned out to the market had to be frying their fish and eating it. She showed the news team a coal fire on which the fish were being fried, and a few persons who identified themselves as fish vendors were indeed eating fried fish.
"Si wi yah. We haffi a fry the fish and a eat them wiself. Nothing nuh wrong wid wi fish." She, along with other vendors, said the claims against them smacked of "sabotage".
"First dem seh the sample negative, den dem seh it positive. Why the first time the sample come it negative, then positive and is the same fish? Why?" asked Jean.
Wally Forbes, another vendor, said it was unfair that the person who had fallen ill as a result of the fish did not attend the parish council meeting.
"Wi nuh know her. She nuh come and seh well a me, or a dah person deh she buy from." Patricia, another vendor, agreed. "You caan mek everybody suffer fi one person," she said. But the vendors said when the issue was raised at the meeting, they were told the complainant did not have to be present since the fish were found to be contaminated.
The vendors told the Sunday Observer that fishermen from whom they bought their fish, were now threatening to sue them. One vendor said she owed fishermen in Treasure Beach $72,000. Another quoted $70,000. "Dem nuh care 'bout what a happen. We tek dem goods, dem a look fi dem money".
Still, parish council officials say they have not placed a stop order on fish vending. Secretary Manager Alfred Graham said the Manchester Health Department would be taking further samples from the market and from fishing beaches to determine the origin of the formaldehyde. But Acting Chief Health Inspector Ira Farquarson said the department has not yet gone after additional samples.
"We're communicating with the food specialist in the Ministry of Health. There's a process involved and we understand there's a cost attached to the sampling...I'm not sure what the cost is," he told the Sunday Observer. He said the Ministry was moving to implement a sampling programme in all of central Jamaica.
In the meantime, there are mixed reactions from restaurants in and around Mandeville, as to whether their fish sales have suffered. Manager of Grove Court Restaurant, Elaine Binns, said, "To be frank, since the story broke, we haven't gotten any customers ordering fish. But we don't buy our fish from the market. We get fish straight from Treasure Beach or White House". She is expecting sales to drop further, as "you not gonna come in and order a fish dinner, because you're going to wonder", she said.
But assistant manager of Cherry Delite Restauraunt, Joan Blanchard, said her business has not been seriously affected, "because we do slice fish". "I definitely haven't seen a drop in sales. People are still coming in to buy their sliced fish." She says she does not buy fish from the market, but from a nearby meat shop or from the seaside.
However, vendors said a number of small business operators who buy directly from them, have been affected. "One lady who operates her business on the highway came to buy fish this week. She was overseas, so she never know what a gwaan, a wi haffi tell her," one vendor said.
Wally said the fish contamination issue has also affected the livelihood of a number of fishermen who sell directly to the market people.
The vendors place blame for the way the issue was handled squarely at the feet of councillor for the Mandeville division, Sally Porteous, for not consulting with them when she received the complaint that someone had fallen ill. But Porteous has reportedly said she would like the police to investigate the matter to find out how the vendors got their hands on the substance.
Head of the Manchester police, Superintendent Lascelles Taylor, told the Sunday Observer that the police have not been called in to investigate. He said it wasn't a matter that the police would take up on their own as "the scientists would have to show the evidence and prove it before the courts".
Formaldehyde, which is also reportedly used in household items such as pressed wood, cigarette smoke and fuel burning appliances, can be bought in some local pharmacies. Industrial Chemical Limited said they don't stock the chemical, but Haughton's Pharmacy in Mandeville say it's sold there. A pharmacy representative told the Sunday Observer: "We don't have any in stock now. But when we do, you have to get a prescription. You couldn't come by and just pick it up. No reputable pharmacist would sell it like that."
Sylvia Lyn of Lyn's Funeral Home said she keeps her embalming fluid under lock and key. "We don't use the powder. We use the fluid. It's not available locally. We lock it up and take out a bottle at a time when we need it," she said. She added, however, that formaldehyde was widely used in hospitals and elsewhere "to preserve specimens".
Meanwhile, the fish vendors say instead of pointing a finger at them, the authorities should look elsewhere.
One vendor, Jackie, said the authorities should investigate the fishermen who are using dynamite.
"Dem need to go behind the cays where di man dem live...dem neva try go inna di meat shop and supermarket and go si what kind a fish dem have in deh," she said.
Wally added that there was no way the vendors could be blamed, as they buy fish from a number of different places

[jamaica_dreamin]

Re: Mandeville Fish is safe

I have a friend (with a wife and 3 kids)who has lost his livelyhood over this crap

[jamaica_dreamin]

Re: Mandeville Fish is safe

bump

[QK13]

Re: Mandeville Fish is safe

Lawd, as if things aren't bad enough.

[jamaica_dreamin]

Re: Mandeville Fish is safe

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jamaica_dreamin</div><div class="ubbcode-body">NEWS

Mandeville fish safe
No formaldehyde detected following lab tests
Jamaica Observer
Thursday, July 29, 2010


AGRICULTURE and Fisheries Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says the fish being sold in the Mandeville Market and across the country is safe for consumption.
His declaration follows the collection of samples of fish for testing for the presence of formaldehyde in several fishing villages and marketplaces across the country. The tests were ordered after news broke a month ago that formaldehyde had been found on fish being sold in the Mandeville market.
Speaking with fishermen and public health officials at a town hall meeting in Mandeville this morning, Dr Tufton said samples tested had returned negative for formaldehyde — a deadly chemical that is used to preserve dead bodies before burial.
“The Veterinary Services Division working in conjunction with the Ministry of Health visited numerous locations and collected samples of fish for the testing for the presence of formaldehyde,” Tufton said.
“Samples were collected from the Old Harbour Bay Fishing Village, Old Harbour Market, Mandeville Market, Rocky Point Fishing Village and Black River Fish Market. From these areas, a total of 16 samples were collected. All tests were negative, meaning, no trace of formaldehyde was found in any of the fish samples collected.”
A team of officers from the Veterinary Services Division began collecting samples on July 12.
Dr Tufton said the ministry’s Veterinary Services Division, the Fisheries Division and the Ministry of Health will continue to closely monitor all areas where fish is offered for sale, including imported fish.
A month ago, the Manchester Health Department effectively shut down operations in the Mandeville Market, after reporting that some vendors at the market used formaldehyde to prevent their fish from spoiling.
Related story:
Mandeville fish sales plummet
</div></div>

I want to make sure this article is seen by as many as possible.

[jamaica_dreamin]

Help for Mandeville fish vendors

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/

NEWS

Back-to-school assistance for Mandeville fish vendors
Rhoma Tomlinson
Monday, August 02, 2010


MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Fish vendors who sell in the Mandeville Market, reeling from slow sales, are to get help with back-to-school expenses, Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton told the Observer.
The vendors saw sales plummet following reports that they were using embalming powder to preserve their fish, after a Manchester resident got ill after consuming fish bought in the market.
Subsequent tests in April on fish taken from the market showed traces of the embalming substance formaldehyde.
The minister, following a meeting with the vendors last week, told the Observer that the ministry's assistance was not compensation for losses, but help to offset their back to school costs.
&quot;They've expressed frustration because of the lack of support. I'd hate to think that because of what happened their kids can't go back to school,&quot; he said.
The minister's promise came just minutes after he told vendors that the ministry had declared fish in the Mandeville market safe for human consumption.
&quot;I'm saying to the public, it's safe to come back to into Mandeville Market. We've conducted tests with the Veterinary Division on [fish from] the Old Harbour Bay beach, Old Harbour market, Rocky Point beach, and the Black River and Mandeville markets. We took over 16 samples and tested for spoilage and illegal substance. All of them came back negative,&quot; the minister said.
But while the vendors welcomed the news, they told the Observer that the loss of fish sales over the last three months had affected them sending their children back to school. &quot;I owe $5,000 to one school right ya now and I don't know how mi ago pay it back,&quot; Jean Wilson, a fish vendor, told the Observer. She said while she was confident that customers would start returning, she would not be stocking up on a big supply of fish until the demand increased.
Another vendor, Jackie Findlay, said the initial formaldehyde findings had not only wiped out their livelihood, but their reputation. &quot;We can hardly walk through Mandeville and hold up wi head and we a nuh thief and wrongdoer,&quot; she said.
Another vendor questioned why the results of the initial test done in April had taken months to be released, when the most recent tests had only taken a few days to be completed.
In June of this year, just days after the results of the first findings were made public, vendors reported losing up to $10,000 per day. At the time, a number of vendors said they were being threatened by fishermen, who they owed thousands of dollars.
Minister Tufton declined to comment on the previous test and the time it took to publicise them but said, from now on, a new random testing system would be introduced. &quot;We're going to be doing periodic, random testing, maybe once per quarter; if there is even a minority of fishers who may be tempted to do what is being said was done we're going to use the law to prosecute them,&quot; he said.

[jamaica_dreamin]

Re: Help for Mandeville fish vendors

I promise that this is the last time I will bump this thread up.