Formaldehyde is the simplest member of aldehyde family but it is very reactive chemical. Formaldehyde is soluble in water and when mix with water the solution is called formalin. In other words, the gaseous form is Formaldehyde and the liquid form is Formalin. However, Formalin is not at all time composed of Formaldehyde and water alone. Some manufacturer of Formalin added other alcohol substance to the solution of Formaldehyde and water.

Formaldehyde is a colorless, strong-smelling, irritating, poisonous, and flammable gas and its chemical formula is CH2O which is also called as Methanal. It is commonly produced by oxidation of Methanol.

Formaldehyde is used as disinfectant and preservative and used in the industry of textiles, plywood, papers, insulators, plastics, paints, etc.. The Formalin is widely used in embalming dead bodies.

Why are you writing about Formaldehyde and Formalin?

Actually, I just want to share you some thoughts about Formaldehyde or Formalin.

To let you know, every time we talk about the China Milk Scare or the China Melamine Scandal, we end up discussing about Formalin. It is because the Chinese businessmen were silently killing people by mixing melamine into their dairy products just to cheat the standard test of the government for dairy products, while Filipino fishermen and fish vendors are silently killing people by using Formalin in maintaining the freshness of the look of the fish they’re selling.

You see, Chinese businessmen cheated the standard test for dairy products using melamine, while Filipino fishermen used Formalin in cheating fish buyers. While melamine caused kidney stones, Formalin or Formaldehyde is considered carcinogen and is very irritating and poisonous chemical.

How did you know that fishermen and fish vendors are using formalin in preserving their fish?

Actually, some people here in Maasin City that I talked with told me that there are fishes being sold in the Maasin City Wet Market are preserved using Formalin. But these people who told me about it don’t have evidence to back up their accusation. What they told me is of course their conclusion based on the looks of the fishes.

Here’s why they concluded that some fishes were preserved using formalin:

1. Most of the large fishing boats that deliver tuna, shark and other big fishes here in Maasin City Wet Market stay at sea fishing for two weeks. That’s the reason why these fishing boats bring hundreds of kilograms of fishes here in Maasin. But in that length of time, fishes still look fresh. When the fishermen in those fishing boats were asked what they are using to preserve the fish, they would answer that they’re using sea water and ice.

   Now, if it is really true that fishermen use sea water and ice in preserving the fishes for them to stay fresh for two weeks, then why is it that the eyes of the fishes were still fresh? Something weird, they told me.

2. In Barangay Ichon, Macrohon, Southern Leyte, I once saw a fish car with tuna fishes coming from Mindanao that were not soaked into the water with ice. These fishes were not even placed in the freezer but were just wrapped with papers. Remember that these fish cars were traveling from the place of their origin in Mindanao to Macrohon, Southern Leyte for several days. Fishes normally start to rot several hours after they died. Now, if these fish cars did not use any preservatives, then why is it that the fishes still looked fresh as they unloaded them from the fish cars? And if they’re really using preservative in preserving the fishes, then I’m sure that they were not using sea water and ice but a chemical.

What’s the problem with fish preserved using Formalin?

Well, eating fish with Formalin seems no effect at all especially if the Formaldehyde level you took is very minimal. But we should not forget that Formaldehyde is known as carcinogenic chemical. Carcinogenic means capable of causing cancer.

So, eating fish with formalin is like allowing cancer to grow in your body. And of course we don’t want to suffer from cancer.

How could we know if the fishes that we want to buy are preserved using Formalin?

Normally, fishes preserved with Formalin are stiff. They remain stiff even if you soak it in water for several hours or days. They also remain stiff even after you cooked them. The meat is rubbery. The scales are hard. The eyes look fresh and clear. The fishes do not have fishy odor. And the very obvious sign is that flies don’t go near with those fishes.

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