Panaji, Dec 14 (TOI): The high court of Bombay at Goa on Thursday asked the 11-member scientific panel of fish and fisheries products of the food safety and standards authority of India (FSSAI) to go ahead and finalise the permissible limit of naturally occurring formaldehyde in species of fish to clear the existing ambiguity.

The court further gave the government a time frame of three months to place on record a progress report on the same.

Till then, justice R M Borde observed, an adhoc limits of 4mg/kg of formaldehyde for fresh water origin fish and 100mg/kg for brackish/marine origin fish will prevail for all practical purposes.

He told the petitioners that proper procedure would be followed where they can raise objections and suggestions, before the finalised limit is placed before the parliament to be incorporated in a law.

Advocate Dharmesh Verenkar, who represented the FSSAI, told the court that once the scientific panel decides on naturally occurring formaldehyde in fish, the issue will be forwarded to the scientific committee, which if agreeable, can recommend this for the legislature to decide and frame regulations.

In an earlier affidavit, FSSAI had stated that in order to clear the ambiguity associated with naturally occurring formaldehyde, the panel would have to undertake a nearly two-year-long research project.