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uring an inspection of retail giant Carrefour Puri Indah store in Kembangan, West Jakarta on Thursday, a team from the city'€™s Maritime and Agriculture Agency discovered two fishery products that contained formaldehyde.

'€œWe checked 24 kinds of fresh and preserved fish products. Of the samples, Kembung Como [island mackerel] fresh fish and Teri Padang Besar salted fish were found to contain formaldehyde,'€ head of the food safety division at the agency Aswin Saragih told reporters on Thursday.  

Formaldehyde is a chemical compound commonly used in disinfectants, fertilizers and as a preservative in mortuaries. The tasteless and odorless characteristics of the substance make it difficult to detect in food.

Formaldehyde can cause neurodegenerative problems such as seizures, headaches, nausea, depression, convulsions and loss of vision. Despite the dangerous effects, some food vendors continue to use it to preserve various food products such as fish, meat, tofu and noodles because of its cheapness and availability.

Carrefour Puri Indah store manager Henryco Sinurat said he would convey the findings to the related fish suppliers.

'€œWe will also conduct an internal test to re-check the products. Usually, we only make random checks,'€ he said.