Six individuals in China have been charged with doctoring a popular local fish with industrial chemicals to make it look better on the stalls of a major seafood wholesale market.
A suspect named only as Mr. Ma in local court reports opened a processing plant in the Chengyang district of Qingdao in July 2017 but later moved production to Weihai. Local police working on a tip-off tracked Ma from his plant to the Chengyang wholesale seafood market, where he and five accomplices were eventually arrested.
The case is currently with the People’s Procurator, the state agency that handles investigations and prosecutions. Ma and his accomplices allegedly used formaldehyde – a toxic chemical that can be fatal to humans – to improve the presentation of silver fish silverfish he sold in the Chengyang market.
Silverfish, formally known as salangidae and known variously as noodle fish and icefish, is popular in Asia among household consumers.