ANALYSIS OF FORMALIN IN SALTED FISH FROM KENDARI CITY TRADITIONAL MARKET

Abstract

Fish is a food with a complete source of essential nutrients, high protein, and low content of saturated fat, healthier than other animal proteins. Fish can be processed into salted fish and is a source of nutrition widely consumed by the community. In the market, you can often find food additives used for the preservation process of salted fish, namely formalin. The use of formalin in food in Indonesia has been banned for a long time because it is carcinogenic and can trigger cancer. Based on the preliminary survey, it can be seen that some salted fish sold have characteristics that are almost the same as those of salted fish that use formalin, namely clean, bright, not have a distinctive salty fish smell, and not infested with flies. Research on the use of formalin as a food preservative has been widely carried out, but studies on the analysis of formalin content using the Colorimetric KIT Test Brand Easy Test method for the Kendari City area are still limited. Samples were taken from 3 traditional markets in Kendari City: the Mandonga market, the Fish Auction market, and the Central market of the Old Town of Kendari City. Based on laboratory tests that have been carried out at the Biomolecular and Environmental Laboratory of UHO FMIPA on six samples of salted fish, there was 1 sample that was declared positive for containing formalin (16.67%) and five pieces negative for containing formaldehyde (83.33%). It shows that formalin-salted fish still circulated in traditional markets in Kendari City, although most of the samples did not contain formalin. Periodic inspection, supervision, and socialization are needed to prevent the use of formalin in salted fish.